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The article was not the incident. You have to understand that I had no prior knowledge of an issue until the incident. No one told me anything, and I presented the article to SHOW my past behaviour to indicate why I was flirtatious. I mean, get it right. You got it wrong, and you won’t own it. I deserve an apology. What you and your team did was wrong. It’s not an attack, it’s an observation. Many of which I have had since we’ve started. You have more than demonstrated your mindset and how much you value the league members. Considering how difficult it was for me to get you to listen to feedback, that alone is a strong indicator of how much you value us. Because the league, just so you know, is spare time for everyone. Something you value so much when having to, “use,” on members like me. Because of my viewpoints and how they differ to you. You will always have your feedback loop of friends here that will defend you, but anyone who looks at both of our arguments and has a rational, empathetic viewpoint, will vote for me.

Fixed.

I was never once contacted prior to the incident in October 2021. YOU DID NOT DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. Show the message sent to me prior to Oct 2021. It does not exist. Ridiculously severe punishment for the incident itself. A warning was more than enough. Again, this is what shows how blind you are. All cases are individual and unique. All should take proper time and care, none of which you sufficiently do. My point is that people learn their whole lives, or they don’t. But they should be given a better opportunity than the one you provide. I don’t know how better to spell this out for you. Your whole mindset is not appropriate for your position. For someone as smart as you, it’s surprising to see how you cannot see the error in your ways. I have done enough to prove my case against you, the conclusion now lies in the leagues opinion.

Hi @Baozi, sorry for the delay. I had full intention of responding but I wanted to allow a moment to breathe and absorb, and also give it some time before I wrote back what I had to say. Now, the unfortunate part is that I have to do the following in writing (you know how I feel about it when it comes to big topics), and so I'll do my best to make it as clear and concise as I can be. First off, I want to say thank you to you for taking the time to listen to me, and also for writing out a thoughtful response. Ultimately, that was what I wanted (for you to listen and respond) and the fact that you did that and are still looking for a response from me makes me feel heard, and respected. I really appreciate that. Genuinely. What I want to do now is highlight some of my key responses to your viewpoints, and point out why I believe your navigation in steering this Mod Mentality is not what we want (overall). Especially if our long-term model for success as a league strives for inclusivity. Here in lies one of my greatest concerns of your team, which is your proactive preventative measures. This, in my opinion, is very wrong and let me tell you why. I am so glad you used medical as an example, and let's stick with my neck injury. Yes, it sucks that I have it, but I am being guided by a professional who has spent the majority of their life being educated in that subject matter (Doctor). Not even the best doctors get to be surgeons, because even that requires unique skill. Not a single member of your team, including you, are qualified to be proactive in your preventative measures. In fact, it is your belief that you are qualified which makes you so reckless. Case in point, my suspension. Now is the time for me to show you why your team is dangerous with this mentality: Context - I openly flirted with a VHL member over a timeframe of three years. During that time I received no discouragement from that member, and in fact encouragement. We talked in DM's, and I generally thought we had a great friendship. I have come to accept that what I did was wrong, and I have grown as a person because of it. Incident - I came onto Discord in Oct 2021 and started to flirt with said member. At the time, Kachur was masquerading as Horcrux and immediately came back at me, telling me that what I was doing was wrong. At first, I was nonapologetic because I did not believe that it was true. But it did turn out that the member did not like that I would flirt with her, and after I was told by the member I realized it was true and I stopped immediately. In the meantime Horcrux (Kachur) and the member complained to management and I was warned to stop. No further incident has ever occurred. The Investigation - I was then informed I was being investigated, and stated my case. In the meantime I worked on trying to repair the friendship with the member I offended. I ended up being suspended for two weeks and the major reason for why was CONSENT. I was stunned. What on Earth for? This began the rumor that persists to this day, and the very thing that you, Baozi, threw back at me in the previous forum fight that was false. Which is the FALSE fact that I had been warned previously to stop flirting with the member by management in the EFL. WRONG. Never happened. Now, does that mean that the member who I offended never said anything to the EFL? No. But what it does mean is that I was never contacted by the EFL which means that your team did not do their due diligence when investigating my case! And you labeled me as betraying CONSENT WITHOUT CONFIRMING. And here is a big giant middle finger to everyone of you who were involved in my suspension, and not doing your due diligence by confirming with the EFL. Not only did I get suspended for an incident that came out of literally nowhere, I was labeled as a person who had disobeyed consent. Do you understand the kind of psychological trauma that causes a person!? How fucked up that makes them feel? Your team did that. Your team did that to me. I'll have you know that I still deal with ramifications from it -- for one -- your response shows that you, yourself didn't do the proper legwork. And two!! I went to recreate in the SHL, joined as a rookie to a locker room and searched my name only to see that @Esso2264 had told the room about my suspension for making misogynistic comments. And you know why Esso told them that? All because the server owner said that they missed me. Shame on you, and shame on your team. This is a scar I still wear to this day. I used the definition from the dictionary. My point about people having wrong viewpoints on subjects like race or homosexuality is that they should be given an opportunity to grow, learn, and change. I was brought up in an absolutely wildly strict religious home, and one of the things I was taught about life is that masturbation was a sin and was wrong. Bad behavior can be both learned and unlearned. It is possible to help people see a bigger, and brighter picture. It's about breaking it down for them, why is it that they feel it is wrong? I should have been given the chance to do better, and instead I was punished. When they are attacks, legitimate attacks. Yes, those people should not be here. But this whole post, and debate has not been about those individuals. People like Kachur are the individuals we don't want, people like JRuutu - we do. In this whole paragraph from you - you are wrong. Especially in the following quote, "in this case of the VHL we’re already dealing with adults so they have already established their methodology for learning" Absolutely false. I literally work in adult education in my 9-5. There's not only a boatload of statistics to prove this otherwise, this is one of my major issues with you BEING IN THE ROLE THAT YOU ARE. I need to be clear, as a person, love that you're a member here. As the Head Mod. This is a scary mentality to have. That's being too dramatic. It's a sad mentality to have, and a very backwards thinking one as well. The old saying of, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," is not true. You can, so long as the dog wants to play. None of your team members are qualified to hand out the punishments you are delivering. Mistakes are not acceptable when peoples psychological well being is at stake, as I have demonstrated above. Such is why a new leadership model needs to be undertaken. Here is my proposal: I do believe that the current Mod Mentality is broken. In a perfect world, Baozi would recognize this and step down. I think we need to have new leadership instilled and I am genuinely offering myself as a temporary option to help guide the ship for a new replacement. I have stated my case through these posts, but also in my podcast. For those that doubt me, I implore you to listen to the pod, and give me a fair chance. @Beketov @Josh -- I've never been more serious. The leadership of this Mod team needs immediate care. The one thing I cannot do is manage Discord but we have great mods in place for that. I can however be involved on Discord for discussing issues as they arise, and I can also be utilized to not only assist in investigations but also help mediate when it comes to any possible, "offenders." This Mod team needs a major shakeup, and it starts at the top. Let's be the change we want to see. Thank you.

Your response definitely helps and by no means did I think Baozi was making decisions alone. But Baozi is the leader and representative for the team, a person who plays a strong role in setting the tone. Because of the interaction I had with Baozi in JRuutu’s thread, I’ve chosen to do this podcast so I can speak both directly to Baozi and to you all. That’s why I wanted to say it, because text is too easy to be misconstrued. All of this is to help relay feedback to your team and also show you the humanity of one of your members. A person who has been previously suspended. I want to help you make better decisions within the group. But I think it starts with the top, and such is why I am directly reaching out to Baozi in this podcast.

Thank you Sam, I really appreciate your message, it means a lot coming from you. I do want to mention that I don’t feel as though I’ve been personally targeted. My primary concern is the severity of punishments, the level of accurate investigation behind them, and also wanting to know that the person in charge of the MOD team is an individual I can trust to be fair. I’ll leave it at that but thank you again for responding. You rock!

1. Doing it as a PT is a veteran move. All new folk who find themselves here take notice. 2. It's not about proving anything to me, this is a literal audio of me reaching out to you, and the mod team. The fact that you find it difficult to listen to my voice doesn't surprise me, but it is why it is so important. Text is not enough. I am quite literally reaching out to you. Ball's in your court now.

It is quite a statement, that you can't bring yourself to listen to 20 minutes of a conversation that talks directly to you. Baffling for a Head Moderator of a League that should care. But... perhaps not so baffling at all.

Meant to be listened to.

An audio letter for@Baozi. @Beketov & @Josh also mentioned.

Thank you to producer @Phil for being the best ever

1. What your favorite place you’ve ever visited? 2. favorite NHL memory? 3. How would you rate Strass performance this season? 4. when faced with a dilemma, how do you go about responding to it? 5. what was your favourite birthday? 6. if your name was converted into an adjective, what would it be? “I’ll go all Phil on you..” etc

**So, it would seem that I got away with it. Until next time, Gadget.**

A damning indictment from a recent first overall pick, and a loss from a person who is a quality member that delivers quality content.

100% Yes and no, definitely overall agree... just not the fact that it would have been worse without them. When the SBA dropped their affiliate with us did Bek go wild and bring the hammer down on Josh? No. He took his time and tried to navigate it as best as he could, and be as fair as he could. I may not agree with Bek all the time, but that is good leadership. I think this version of the mod team has had a negative effect on the league and it stems from the top. AMEN Fair.

Can I get a C! And an’ Oooooo! Now a P! And an O-U-T!! What is mandated is a safe environment, and you’ve shown today that you offer no such thing in your position of leadership. It’s interesting how you think of my opinions of being old world, when I am far more accepting, and frankly - kind than you are. All you’ve done today is try to drag me through mud, when in reality I’ve just tried to make you see that we stand on the same ground. Yikes bro. Yikes.

Cop out response btw. Also, let me define the threat because this is important for everyone in this league to understand. If @Baozitruly disagrees with those simplistic values of him and I not being alike - how can I possibly trust him to approach a situation that involves discipline with members of this league in good faith? He has shown here that he cannot be trusted to do that, and literally has admitted to so. What a bad, bad look, for a person who is supposed to be our head Mod.

It’s not at all unfortunate for me. What I find most interesting is now after this interaction I feel bad for you. It’s a shame you feel the way you do, and it has never been more clear to me now that you should step down. We need a leader who does share those values, especially if the culture we want to build is one that strives to be safe. It’s clear you’re a threat in your position and I do hope that both @Beketovand @Josh take good notice.

Again, you prove my point, and again - you are wrong. We are alike. We are all brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and so on. People who want love and to love, want shelter and to provide. Strive to be better than we are. Your glaring mistake here is your inability to recognize that. Such is why you’re a poor leader.

He's referencing my suspension.

Don't worry @Achilles about the opinion of a person who said that another human being should have been aborted. But what I find hard to accept is that somehow that same person is the head mod??? The person who is just as/if not more aggressive in Discord than I have ever been in my entire time here. That's why it's ironic @Baozi and that's why you shouldn't be in the role that you are. The reality is that everyone makes mistakes, it's how we respond from them. All you've done today is proven in your responses that you are ill equipped for this role. You turn your nose up towards us, like you're somehow a better person than me or Achilles, when in reality you're just like us. That's where your team gets in wrong. Punishment is never the answer. Communication, understanding, learning. Now, that's a beautiful thing. Something you oughta take note of.

You're a terrible representation of leadership here, and that's just my opinion. Just like you're allowed to have yours.