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He was one of the people involved with my suspension and enabling this movement of the COC change. Just in case anyone is curious. Again, I like Al as a member, as a person -- but wanted to clarify who it was I've been talking about.

Also I should just mention, I’m not coming back, so I’ve got nothing to lose here. I’m going to speak my truth, and you may not like it, but it might cause some others to notice or think about these things. All of what I have done here is to explain my retirement, for the present members, and for the future.

Hi Sam, there is truth to all sarcasm. That’s a life lesson btw, anytime someone uses it on you they believe what they’re saying. Sam, you’re a gem. I have no issues with you whatsoever. I wish I could clone you, and make you every mod. You’re a lovely person with a kind heart. Which is why you always come to the aid of your team. Keep being you.

Everyone from here on out should follow Spartans advice in the above reply. Also, everyone take note of the staff who did come in here and how they’ve responded. When I spoke of great leaders being here already, you’re seeing them now.

Just to clarify further, I was not calling Frank toxic. I was speaking on each point I made. Frank is an excellent hire, and the right choice. My point is that the line ahead of him was much longer and people in that line didn’t even get an interview. I am showing how their actions cause a loss of morale. For toxic hires I am going to point at the mod team. Fishy was a toxic, damaging hire, and is a toxic member. Baozi in my opinion is also not only bad for the role, but makes bad hires. A current example of a bad hire for the mod team is @Dil. Go look at Ricers complaint for evidence, and read his history in Discord. I like Dil as a member, as a person, but not as a mod. Dil gets away with saying some horrendous stuff, far beyond what I ever did. These are individuals who cause harm in what they do and they’re key cogs in the wheel of the VHL. You’re fucking your league by having them in the roles that they are. All of this, every single bit of this, is a problem because of the people sitting at the top. It’s their responsibility to hold their staff accountable. Everyone ran to fishy’s aid when they started their campaign of hate, and yet, crickets for me. It’s because I’m not valued as much. Perhaps because I was too critical 3.5 years ago, or perhaps because I’m annoying. Either way, I’ve dedicated the past 4 years of my life to this site, being a max earner, donating. My feelings should matter. This is why the VHL sucks at Retention.

So all of the examples I gave were relevant to my original points. I can give you more examples by DM but you don’t have a problem hiring people. You’re literally one of the people on this site I am NOT talking to with this thread, and yet, my most active critic. This is directly against Bek, Josh, Big Al, Baozi, fishy, and a few others. Naming more names won’t change anything. The most concerning parties are the people I’ve listed.

It happened long before this.

Just to follow up on that, my toxic people being hired comment was in a reply. Naming more names in this thread or even by DM serves me little purpose, showing examples of how these incidents happened was my best bet. @Spartan

@Spartan Im not going to debate all of your points, I just want to clarify that I was not, “going after Frank.” I am showing examples. I also write this stuff out with the intention of others reading it. In my opinion I’ve demonstrated my points above, all of which is just to let people know what happened with me before I departed the league.

Not forgotten, Shindigs is fantastic.

Are you saying fishy won by bullying me, and helping to cause me mental distress?

I am not going to debate or tag Baozi for their above comment, because in reality Baozi is not helpful, and only continues to dig their own hole with their comments. But for some reason that still won’t matter, even though Baozi is the Head of one of the most critical departments in this league!

Hi @Spartan I'm going to give you three recent examples of the issues I listed above, just so I can also show any other individuals who wonder about the same thing. Here we go: Outsiders Don’t See the Benefit While it would be easier to point to a bad hire, I am going to use a good hire but where the process was done wrong by the Blue team. Wrong in the sense of the above issue, outsiders not seeing the benefit (after the hiring process). Look at the hiring of @Frank as GM for Vancouver. You and I both know that Frank is a top tier GM, great to his players, engaging, creates fantastic content. Literally, a perfect person for the job. However, when Frank was hired he quite literally leaped frogged over a whole assortment of people and got the job in about five seconds (an exaggeration but not far from the truth). Why did this happen? There was a time crunch and a decision had to be made quickly. Frank was a logical choice for the job, because of the above -- but so too were many others, many of which who were never even given an opportunity to interview for the job. Which is quite frankly (pun intended), not doing your due dilligence (a common theme in the leadership team here - see further below in a moment). The above scenario is a really good way of killing morale. You achieve your goal of securing a solid GM, yes, but you may as well of given the middle finger to all of those who applied before him. Bad Staff For those who come to this thread in the future, check this out: That thread outlines a perfect example of the mod team not doing their due dilligence, and also not giving a fuck about the fact that they fucked me over. The fact that only yourself, Spartan, reached out to me after this thread speaks volumes. I've really gone after @Baozi on this subject, because while I don't think they're a bad person I do believe they have the wrong ideals for their role and because of that, even their mistakes in hiring people are brutal holes to climb out of. Look, the mod team isn't all bad. I don't want people to believe, that I believe that. I can directly point at both @samx and @frescoelmo (Edit - nvm on Fresco) and say that Sam is ONE staff members that I am almost certainly dislike me, but always treats me with respect and is nice-ish to me. I have all the time in the world for her because she tries hard to contribute positively to the community. Other hires like @fishy (more below on that) - were the worst of all, and after witnessing the work that both Baozi and fishy dished out on this site the past year in suspensions and bans - y'all should be having nightmares. fishy did this site the biggest world of service by stepping down from the mod team. Toxic Members Like I said to Hatter, some people are toxic to some but not others- but let's just show you an example of how a member like @fishy is toxic toward me. Let's just take a look at some recent comments from fishy in regards to me: Why the comment above sucks ass: fishy was directly involved in suspending me, and was a person who did not do their due dilligence. Not only did fishy read my Mod Mentality thread, and listen to my podcast, fishy openly mocks me because of it. This is quite literally a form of bullying. Ironic that it comes from the person who posted the current COC. Here is another example of fishy mocking me below: That again comes after my thread where I bared my soul and put myself out there, exposing my pain. There is no remorse from fishy, only subtle shots and cruel comments. But I am not the only one, fishy is also unkind to others. Here is another RECENT example: Members like fishy do a great job of making other members like me feel like shit, but no one claps back at fishy because they're one of the elitist now (who are far too good for us commoners). Especially, far too beyond making an apology for causing a member like me a great deal of pain in my life. That, is what makes a toxic member.

I know it's not a business, but we're talking about growth and retention. The best way to view it is as a business, not to make money, but to sustain and grow it. I don't think @Beketov is toxic. I have a follow up to Spartan's post I'm going to post in a few momentos. There are people who are toxic to some, and not to others. The overall point is about culture.

Gustav, good sir, you're a part of the excellent leaders that are here. If I could personally pick an ambassador for the VHL that greets you at the door and walks you around, it would be you. @Spartan , @Acydburn, are equally great leaders in their own right. None of this is a personal attack (per se). I quite like @Beketov as a person and member, and I think he does a great job at making this site go from A to B. Same is to be said for @Josh. As people, members, and site managers, they rule. It's the lack of attention from them, on the matters I've listed above, that I'm primarily calling out on. Obviously, Josh is away on parental leave, and Bek does the best he can - but that doesn't stop the fact that there's still steps that they do wrong. It would seem as though no one wants to accept that some of the people you have in your positions are not right for them (Head of Moderation for the love of almighty). However, these positions play key roles in league management and retention. I have no issues with what you're doing in the VHLM, Gustav, but I would argue that the VHLM is NOT the most important league for retention. It's what happens beyond the VHLM where we lose people. You see, the VHLM is a ton of fun. The managers are engaging, the teammates are in it together, the vibe is altogether different. Then you get to the VHL, and depending on where you land - the vibe could be amazing or it could be a ghost town --- or even worse, it could have toxic members hanging out in there that think for some reason that they're better than everyone? Which is confusing for me. I was blown away when @Baozi complained to me that they had to use their, "personal time," to listen to my complaint. Just an insane thing to say from a person in that position. That comment alone should warrant a conversation. What is this site for, if it's not for personal time? Also, those members here who are outright toxic, get to walk around being outward POS's, and yet they still get rewarded with jobs. In fact, they're the first in line when the next one comes up. You think other people are not keenly aware of that? Only if you're ignorant. Listen, I have a lot to say on the matters above, but I also figured this was the best way to use my last .com article. What better way to end it than with what got me in trouble in the first place? But please, Gustav, of all people - do not believe any of the above involves you. It's what comes after you that I'm pointing at.

1. Why are you asking yourself questions in your retirement thread? 2. Do you plan to answer these questions during your last podcast? 3. Is this just a fake post to get 2 TPE and work the system? 4. Should others look at this very example and do the same thing? 5. How silly is it to ask six questions for 2 TPE? 6. Why does the league make us continually do miniscule tasks?

Outsiders Don’t See the Benefit Members are motivated by more than just player development. In fact, many would argue that player development might be one of the least favored goals. The VHL claims to have an array of job opportunities and prospects available to any member, but when those paths are continually blocked or denied, simply building a player isn’t enough. I’ve always been one to believe that our members are our customers, our employees. So, let’s look at some data from the Harvard Business Review - it shows that 88% of employees give some or heavy consideration to benefits like health benefits, bonuses, job growth and flexible hours. It is more competitive than ever before to hire and maintain employees because of the number of opportunities elsewhere. If you don’t make the rules of the game visible and fair, you’re going to have poor results, and people will look elsewhere. Bad Staff We’ve all heard that people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses. So, look at your turnover rate by team — in fact, by commissioner, manager, or mod — and see if there isn’t a trend. Are members fading or quitting because a commissioner continually ignores them? What about favoritism being given to those promoted to manager ahead of others who have been longing for a chance? Look at the utter disastrous wake of destruction the mod team has caused since the beginning or the COC change in Nov. of 2021. According to Forbes, 42% of workers stated they had left a company because of a bad boss. The problem is, even when bosses try to be good leaders, there’s often a disconnect between how employees want their managers to act and how employers think they’re supposed to act. The number one thing that members want is appreciation of their contribution. So if you want members to stick around, focus your retention efforts on training staff to be better at soft skills — showing appreciation, communicating so that members feel like they know what’s going on, and being empathetic to your members concerns. Not being selectively empathetic either – every member should matter. The good news is that the VHL does have leaders who demonstrate these skills, so all is not lost. But remember, tone bleeds down from the top. Toxic Members There is a group of members who lie in wait here, tired of doing media (far above it), and for some reason – angry. It’s the kind of smell that hangs in the air like rotten fish, and these are the members who are critical of others when they do media – when they contribute. These are the members who call others cringe. Maybe they’re jealous of the attention that others receive? Maybe they just hate their own life and want to cause pain in others? Whatever the reason, mold spreads, and soon enough, it gets everywhere. The problem is that these toxic members have stature in the VHL, and they’re allowed to walk the line of bullying others with little to no repercussion. Ultimately, it is because they are favored over others that they get away with it, and for what? Because they were here from the start? Because they put in time talking on Discord and now your friends? What about the impact they cause on the others, the hurt and pain they give out in backhanded compliments and passive aggressive statements? Why should they go unchecked when others are drawn and quartered for missteps? It's hypocrisy at its finest, and it will continue so long as the silent majority remains timid and lets the loud minority rule this playground. Bottom Line I took a run at this league 3.5 years ago for this very topic, and the retention rate is even worse today. It’s a matter of where priorities lie, and people will always tell you where their priorities lie in how they spend their time. There is still time to fix this mess but it’s going to take a lot of tough conversations and hard work to do it. And to that I say, good luck.

This is the finale for the Ask Tate press conference thread, and more importantly, an ode to our longtime producer @Phil. There will be one more episode coming, get your questions in by using the link below: Enjoy the show!

Love hearing that story, and it's so true!! You rock

Dear VHL Members, I am going to do one final podcast where I answer any/all questions from any/all members. Feel free to post any questions below and you will be tagged once my retirement podcast is posted. Thank you in advance!

Hello all, I will no longer be taking questions for my podcast series in this thread. I plan to answer the remaining questions before one last AMA, which I will add the link below (once I get there). Any questions in this thread, beyond this post, will not be answered by me, thank you! Sincerely, Tate