PC: Moving Forward

Logan said:

I thought as much. Was only curious because you seem pretty level headed about it all and any input is appreciated (after all this is a community effort not one of pure individuals.)

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For sure, I work in an industry where PR and damage control is an important factor, so I've seen both sides of this sort of thing. I would also like to say that although I'm not active here, that doesn't mean to say I have no attachment. I wouldn't have weighed in if I didn't care at all. I do wish I had some kind of useful solution, but really all you can do is what you already have laid out to do. It's a damn shame that it's come to this imo, but when a large portion of the userbase is so young it's understandable that people would have these concerns.

Basically keep doing what you're doing and this will sort itself out mostly. It won't blow over overnight, I'd expect for this to continue to be talked about for a while, but you should at least be able to get mostly back to normal.

Oh, also I'd like to add: As much as some people are pushing it as such, Silph was not created in order to capitalize on drama or provide an alternative. It's merely the result of us re-merging two existing sites (romhack.me and pokemonhackersonline). The merge did happen because we had a surge of people come from here (thanks to Luna and diegoisawesome), but it's by no means a new community.

I-Like-Shiny-Pichu said:

Oh, also I'd like to add: As much as some people are pushing it as such, Silph was not created in order to capitalize on drama or provide an alternative. It's merely the result of us re-merging two existing sites (romhack.me and pokemonhackersonline). The merge did happen because we had a surge of people come from here (thanks to Luna and diegoisawesome), but it's by no means a new community.

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I'm not sure what to think of this, seeing as when linked in Discord, the description of the embed is:


Anyways - I don't really want to derail this conversation any further with the discussion of Silph.
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Right now, it's a bit weird to say but I think all of what happened might have been a necessary evil in order for people to be more motivated to work together and push us to greater heights. It's awful to see how many people we lost as a result, but I hope we'll see some of them return in the coming weeks because they realize how important this place is to them. A lot of people didn't quite realize how important PC was to them until they unfortunately left. With the few I've seen return, they seem even more active and motivated than they did a few weeks ago. I hope this trend continues.

Strike the Blood said:

My only criticism with your reply is instead of focusing solely on the points of why it happened, you've gone and targeted people for their reactions, which is a little bit hypocritical in many ways. Your post looks like a real victim card one and while I offer up some sympathy given what has happened, the sugar coated rant about the community afterwards kind of shrivels it up.

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I fail to see the actual hypocrisy in my post. My bigger point being: if you have no attachment to this community, and if the recent events do not affect you in any manner whatsoever, then what business do you have shaming those who do have a connection to this community? What is even the point of doing so? You're only going to make those who are already hurting because of the events feel worse, and what do you really ultimately gain out of this?

With all due respect, I have zero interest in debating semantics and context with you. I was making a plea to the community to come together once more. I implore that you re-read my post and take it precisely as it is on surface level. Otherwise, there's nothing more I can really tell you if you reading so deep into my posts that you're coming up with ridiculous baseless theories such as "pulling the victim card", which is in itself is disrespectful and not at all inappropriate, especially in times like this.

While I disagree with people spamming random crap and memes everywhere, although I would probably assume given this is the internet, a lot of people are doing it not because of their distaste for the situation but because it's "funny" and "trolling". You have to understand why people are lashing out as they're, there really is no morale high ground on a forum such as this when it comes to an issue like this.

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I understand that people will be overtaken by emotion when it comes to situations that have such a high impact level; I was one of them, after all. However, you also have to understand that upon taking a step back and reflecting a bit more, you start to realize that those actions are completely unacceptable. This forum was built on the idea that we are a community, and we should act more as such instead of grabbing at each other's throats. That is not productive in any way whatsoever.

If you again fail to see the point of my point even after this clarification, then perhaps that means we should agree to disagree. I have every foundation to criticize individuals for behaviour that quite frankly isn't really befitting of trying to come together once more and attempting to recover from what is a stressful time for both users and staff alike.

I guess I'll chime in.

It wasn't just the thing with Steve. We all had different reasons for leaving. It was a very complicated mess of a situation and quite frankly, it was painful. It wasn't fun. Nobody was skipping out the door with glee as PC burned down and even those who behaved less than graciously on the way out the door were reacting more out of hurt than anything.

For myself, as a staff member I had some long-standing issues with the administration. The situation with Steve was just the icing on the cake really. All those issues got brought back to the forefront and with a lot of the community bailing out, I eventually forced myself to leave because there just didn't seem to be any point in staying behind. PC is home, it sucked, but I wouldn't stay in my house while it burned down either.

I'm back because I talked to the new administration and they have assured me that my previous concerns no longer apply. My home on the internet is still intact and the problems I had seemingly remedied, so I'm back. This wasn't a simple matter for many of us (me included) and it's a bit problematic that there's people on either side of this debacle going out of their way to stir the pot, especially when several of those people have no idea what went on behind the scenes and haven't been privy to each and every person's personal reasons. If you want to know what happened, PMing a staff member will get you the general gist of events but it's going to be impossible to get the full picture because everybody did what they did for their own reasons.

More to the point though, the constant mud-slinging and debating in this thread is not only pointless but it goes against the spirit of everything that the new admins are trying to achieve. If you're curious, that's one thing, but turning this thread into a forum for debate doesn't help anyone actually move on. I would strongly encourage everyone, staff (past and present) and user alike, to acknowledge bad shit happened and then move on with their lives.

azalea said:

I fail to see the actual hypocrisy in my post. My bigger point being: if you have no attachment to this community, and if the recent events do not affect you in any manner whatsoever, then what business do you have shaming those who do have a connection to this community? What is even the point of doing so? You're only going to make those who are already hurting because of the events feel worse, and what do you really ultimately gain out of this?

With all due respect, I have zero interest in debating semantics and context with you. I was making a plea to the community to come together once more. I implore that you re-read my post and take it precisely as it is on surface level. Otherwise, there's nothing more I can really tell you if you reading so deep into my posts that you're coming up with ridiculous baseless theories such as "pulling the victim card", which is in itself is disrespectful and not at all inappropriate, especially in times like this.



I understand that people will be overtaken by emotion when it comes to situations that have such a high impact level; I was one of them, after all. However, you also have to understand that upon taking a step back and reflecting a bit more, you start to realize that those actions are completely unacceptable. This forum was built on the idea that we are a community, and we should act more as such instead of grabbing at each other's throats. That is not productive in any way whatsoever.

If you again fail to see the point of my point even after this clarification, then perhaps that means we should agree to disagree. I have every foundation to criticize individuals for behaviour that quite frankly isn't really befitting of trying to come together once more and attempting to recover from what is a stressful time for both users and staff alike.

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While I'd love to go into detail as to why I completely disagree with you and show you the hypocrisy, I know I'd just end up with a ton of hate for it and probably face actions for having an opinion.
I will just say that in all this that your standard of judging how people should be behaving in this situation is slightly warped considering the issues and individuals.

That's all I'm replying to you personally because as I said, I know what follows if I wanted to be more opinionated.

This community seems doesn't fix itself or stick together, staff goes and one step lead the community, but all hell breaks. One day, I hoped the community repair the damaged done by the former owner, but I sense PC is dying. I will be just away from PC until it resolves, thank you PC staff for doing your best and makes me feel welcome.

I have absolutely no idea what's going on, all I want to know if there's anything I can do to help support the community. This place has been a home for nearly 10 years now, even over my various hiatuses and accounts. I don't want to see it fractured.

Aurelion Sol said:

This community seems doesn't fix itself or stick together, staff goes and one step lead the community, but all hell breaks. One day, I hoped the community repair the damaged done by the former owner, but I sense PC is dying. I will be just away from PC until it resolves, thank you PC staff for doing your best and makes me feel welcome.

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Things can't be fixed overnight. While we know it's frustrating for you and everyone involved with PC, we ask for patience. The staff and members are doing everything we can to make PC feel right again. But anyways, you are welcome and we hope you come back to PC in the near future!

Gigadweeb said:

I have absolutely no idea what's going on, all I want to know if there's anything I can do to help support the community. This place has been a home for nearly 10 years now, even over my various hiatuses and accounts. I don't want to see it fractured.

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We all feel this way! The best thing you and any of us can do to help the community is just remain engaged and be involved in whatever way you can. Post around the forums, visit the Discord or Battle server, follow the social media accounts, etc. The community did end up a bit fractured but at the end of the day we are PC and will be OK. We are special like that.

I never thought that PC would go up in the flames of a scandal, so wasn't this quite the surprise to hear about?

In any case, I am optimistic about the potential that the community has under new ownership. While Steve and I were generally amicable through the years, he always struck me as stand-offish and wanting to remain hands-off unless green gold was involved. For just a webmaster... perhaps a reasonable expectation, but for an identity so ingrained in PC's history and recognizable as a key figure in the community, that perceived persona was out of place. Perhaps now that it's no longer in place, there will be exponential room for upward movement.

I wish the current staff the absolute best, and I will be watching to see where this goes. PC's culture has evolved many times since I've been here - some eras felt more like PC than others have, sadly - so here's to another about face.

I dunno why my message vanished, but I was asking about a serious concern. When all the gens were grouped together I really do feel like it looks messy now, and I really don't feel like my message needs to be removed without being addressed. I'm not on here trying to spam, I just wanna know why it was put like that when it looked more organized before.

Cute Shiny Hunter said:

I dunno why my message vanished, but I was asking about a serious concern. When all the gens were grouped together I really do feel like it looks messy now, and I really don't feel like my message needs to be removed without being addressed. I'm not on here trying to spam, I just wanna know why it was put like that when it looked more organized before.

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Your thread isn't gone though? It's right here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=406724

Right in Feedback & Support.

eh...and no one could say...'hey, moving this'? XD

just read through all of the thread.

all i have to say is -- wow.

of course, i'd been lurking for the past years so i dont have anything personal to connect to this, but hopefully PC doesn't break apart.

Okay! I was gone from here over a decade. Ll

What happened? anyone explain please.

So. I'm proud of everyone who made incredibly difficult decisions. You're all entitled to feel however you feel. I'm incredibly proud of everyone who sacrificed their status. You guys took a stand and created change. That's progress. So let's groove on that. Everyone reach out to another. You are all worth so much more then those forum. We all saw so much more in each other then we ever did in ourselves. This is a community built on so much love and support. Regardless of what happens, please don't stop supporting those you've connected with. Whatever's keeping you here isn't the forum itself, but the people you managed to bond with. That can't ever be harmed. That isn't replaceable. Value each other above the forum. Healing isn't an overnight process, nor is regaining comfortability. Regain at your own pace. Take your sweet time and reestablish a newfound trust. But staff I cannot stress how much you need to communicate more with your members and establish a relationship with them.

As a member of PC for nearly 4-5 years, i've experienced a lot surprisingly. This is where i learned the etiquette of Roleplaying, and how to structure stories and plots. This is also where i got to play some of my favorite Fan-Games/Rom Hacks, and where i met amazing people. When i heard the news and that the fact that PC suffered a huge blow, it indeed crushed me, seeing this Community in which i grew and had a huge impact on me suffering.

As i now learn that PC isn't going anywhere, i realize that we gotta stay strong, and rise once again. We were the Staple of the Pokemon Fandom, why can't we be anymore? We still are. We just had a few issues. While it's true that Rukairo stepping down is a bit sad, cause he did a lot we're thankful for him, it is the best that he takes some time for his own, and let PC heal it's wounds.

However, we have suffered a huge damage. A lot of people deleted their accounts/threads, and moved their activities to other Communities. And other Communities, which i'm not gonna name em, are trying to replace our beloved home that is PC. So yes, while we also have to rebuild our Community, we also have to defend it and prevent that this place goes barren. I'm not letting PC going down without a fight, that's for sure. (Not literally fighting, to clarify. Pacifism for the win.)

And so, while i am glad that the remaining mods are here to defend the fort, i also believe that this time around, everyone has to defend the fort, and avoid any issues like this happens in the future, under our possible way that is. I may be just some guy who rarely checks the forum, who's been here for like 5 years, but i assure you that we all feel the need to protect the community we so hold dear in our hearts and call home.

In an ending note, PC is a huge impact on my life, especially since some of my best friends online were made here, and thus, it has an important meaning. For that, i'm willing to fight to defend it, even if i don't have qualifications to moderate or anything like that. PC still lives, and will still live on, all we gotta do is keep united and press forwards. This is indeed, a new chapter to PC. For all the mods, i thank you for keeping the fort together. For a special message to Rukairo: Take care, take some time for yourself, and let time heal the wounds. You're a great person, and i never have doubted of you for a single second.

This is my thing about this entire situation, if you are going to resign because you are afraid that someone is going to find out on here that your rl self somehow is associated with a sex offender then you obviously aren't doing very well at hiding your identity on the internet when dealing with things such as illegal rom hacks. As such it seems silly that staff step down just because of that.
That is merely my two cents on the matter. That being said I do not wish for this community to die as it seems necessary to keep pokemon alive to some degree honestly.

Pokemon will continue on without this forum. There exists boards and threads elsewhere that discuss it just as much as this board does. Some people's interest in the series may be tied here, but Pokemon is doing just fine.

It's easy to say just hide your identity online. Just don't post your real name. All that fun stuff, but "they won't find out" is something said by everyone who was ever found out. It's honestly crazy what people can find out about you from just a single account that seems unconnected to yourself at all. Simply put, why risk it if you are in a position where that could hurt you?

Plus to not drag other stuff into the limelight, as a moderator for a large forum it is a very thankless job. You can parade around how much you love and appreciate your mods, but it's often a lot of work and much of that is very behind the scenes and thankless. When pressed with a scandal that like it or not will affect you in some way (even just trolls vandalizing your board to the possibility of appearing complicit in the scandal), you have to decide if it is worth it. As we see here, many decided it wasn't.

And it may seem silly just because they obviously weren't a part of it, but that is a serious crime and a serious accusation. We're talking about a list that follows you for life, that anyone can look up and see (at least in the US). This affects jobs, this affects your criminal record, this can even effect where you can live. If I was tied potentially that closely to that, and it came to light in a very public manner, there is no doubt I'd jump ship. It's not worth it for me.

Just another one of my two cents here.

The money thing never factored into it for me. You guys give your time to this place, I don't really care if you help yourselves out a little. I also don't really think Jake being an admin is an issue.

The Steve this wasn't just that the site was owned by someone like him, although that certainly pushed my buttons. It's that we banned user Coffee for far, far less because we felt we had a duty of care to young members even though Coffee's ill behavior happened away from PC. It didn't even happen on PC's Discord. The H Staff took the Coffee matter very seriously. Which is fair, but what wasn't fair is that the staff knew about Steve before the knowledge became public and felt they had to heavily deliberate on his fate and it looks like he only agreed to step down in light of the damage it done and not out of decency. We banned one for an off colour and inappropriate joke yet someone who actually committed a crime that has undoubtedly altered the lives of all involved was given the choice to leave with as much dignity as he could.

A long time ago PC was rife with double standards for Staff. I thought those days were long gone. This has really disappointed me.

I have no other Forum these days than PC, this one was always important to me. I won't go to a new forum either, just sad my time with this one ended like this.

I hope for the best for you guys. I don't want PC ruined for everyone, even if it is for me.

Oh well, I'm looking forward and hoping for a brighter future.