The Scarlet Letter: Snowden Revisited

[sticcs]

Cpl msgs to and from me and the commish's office regarding censorship and rosters I wanted to share. FYI and entertainment. Btw this is meant to start dialogue. I believe the commish's are fair and competent and have treated me with respect and civility.

TO: Sticcs

Although I appreciate the sentiment of your post this morning, I don't think posting it as a discussion topic was the most productive choice. Discussion should be reserved for topics that merit further conversation among the league members. As it appeared to me that you were primarily venting frustration with and making a suggestion to the commissioners, I think sending it as a message to the commissioners would have been a more productive choice. I have deleted the post, but you are welcome to continue the discussion with the commissioners in a more private manner. You can PM all of the commissioners at once by copying the following into the "to" line of a private message:
admin, lomo45, yellomellojello, gooseisdead


Smitty has been taking the lead with roster updating lately, and you can see that about a third of them have been updated since the beginning of June. We will continue this process, but it takes time. The early months of the season are a particularly slow period in this league. Things pick up significantly in July as the trade deadline approaches, and making sure the official rosters are up-to-date in order to facilitate trading will be a priority at that time. At present, my priority is to making sure that the Yahoo rosters are kept up-to-date, and the official rosters are secondary. However, I do appreciate your frustration and understand that others may share that sentiment, and accordingly will make the rosters a higher priority. Please understand though that jobs and life take a priority over this league. It is, after all, a free league, and naturally must be considered secondary to other life commitments. Unfortunately this summer I am taking twice as many credits in grad school as I have in previous semesters, and am quite busy. Like you said though, there are four of us, and I will do what I can to make sure the rosters are updated satisfactorily when I can. I don't have tons of time, but I will make sure that more of the time that I do have is spent addressing the rosters.

My problem with the post this morning was its tone. I have no problem with constructive criticism or group discussion to solve problems, but to me that post seemed more like inciting discord and venting frustration than about problem solving. Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive due to my desire to maintain a positive atmosphere in my league, but I think that's my prerogative. My responsibility is to the continued success of this league, and if I think a post is doing more harm than good to that end, I'm going to delete it; it's nothing personal. I hope you'll feel welcome to express concerns and start discussions to address them, but please, when doing so, consider ways to do so productively.

Cheers,
Ben


Hey Sticcs,

I understand you've taken some issue with the league and that you and Ben have had some trouble communicating regarding those issues. I wanted to step in and see if we could settle some of those issues so that nobody has to feel like they're being prevented from enjoying this game. There's no reason for you to feel you need to remain silent and not be an active participant in the league. However, I think the way you're approaching these situations may need to be tweaked a bit so that it comes off as constructive rather than hostile.

One of the bigger issues that seems to be happening is censorship. Ben told me he deleted two of your comments and that your PMs to him regarding those were a bit hostile towards him.

The first deleted comment was one in which you replied to the Denorfia situation by saying "that's so gay". Just to be perfectly clear, I believe it is completely unacceptable to make comments like this that are meant to belittle and insult and we will not allow it in this league. I don't know if we have any gay members in this league, I've never asked, but I can say that I personally am friends with several gay people and I find it offensive when somebody implies a negative connotation towards the word gay, it's their life and they shouldn't be judged for it. If you believe that's improper censorship, then I invite you to seek out another league that's more loose about it, but in pro-gm we have an honor code, which you agreed to when you joined, that says "I will conduct myself in a manner that promotes fair play and fun for all." Insulting people isn't fun and it isn't acceptable here. I trust you understand this and won't do it again.

As for the second comment that was deleted, the one in which you expressed your opinions on our leagues "problem" of not having updated rosters, I believe you had a valid point. I personally would have updated them already but I'm not particularly good with coding and I'm afraid I'd screw up the links that were coded into the official rosters thread for each player (which also have made updating that thread a much more difficult process than it used to be, so please do understand that it takes time to get these things done). The issue with your post was not that you raised an issue, it was with the way you said it. I didn't see it so I can't offer my opinion on whether or not it was constructive, but I can tell you that another gm who saw that post (not a commissioner) described it as "some crazy rant about the official rosters not being updated quick enough for him and he took a swipe at the commissioner not doing their jobs given all the rules in play in this league." I'm sure you didn't mean it that way but that's how it came off, not as a constructive discussion to better the league, but as a crazy rant. Most of the people in this league have been in it for years, they understand that we have a way of doing things, and they're comfortable with it. If they have issues, they talk to us about it and we solve them, they don't rant at us and vilify us.

As far as commissioners not doing our jobs, you need to understand that we are all working professionals with jobs, graduate school programs, and families to take care of. This league is meant to be fun, we do the best we can to keep it running smoothly and as far as the other 25 non-commissioner GMs are concerned this league runs pretty great and they enjoy it. Rather than coming at us with a ton of questions and problems, I'm asking that you please show us a bit of patience and respect. If you want to change something, talk to us rather than blaming us and ranting at us. As I said earlier, there's no reason for you to feel you need to remain silent, but work with us rather than against us. A little patience and respect will go a long way.

Hopefully we can work together in the future to improve the league.

Thanks,
Brian
Co-Commissioner


To the Commissioners:


First of all I agree with you about the "gay" comment, that was wrong and totally unacceptable in today's society. That being said, it wasn't meant to be a derogatory statement toward homosexuals, but frustration in a rule that makes no sense to me. Not actually the rule itself but the way the rule was enforced. Regardless I'm over it and I know better for next time.

My second post, however viewed by it's readers, was my opinion and thoughts, it took time to type them just like your last email. It would be a total waste of your time and energy if I were to just delete it. The fact that I'm making an effort and spend time on a free league shows my interest in making it better. Regardless of my "tone" or perceived tone, it is not fair to me or the league to delete any posts. Censorship is totally un-American. Since baseball is "America's favorite pastime" I believe that this is especially wrong. I'm not going to waste my time and brain power on something that will be erased at a whim. I'm not here to kiss-ass and make new friends. I'm here to compete as a general manager of a team with supposed professional competition. If your feelings are extra sensitive, call your mommy to help you adjust. Deleting any messages is unacceptable if you want to have any league with open dialogue and free speech.

With all due respect to the working professionals and people with families to take care of, school to attend and bills to pay, oh wait that is like every adult in the world. So I apologize if I can't empathize with the excuses of the commissioners. If it's too much on your plate, step down or step up. Try having whomever is in charge of the rosters to update two teams a day until it is finished. How hard is that? If you cannot stay on top of it, then delegate the responsibility. The Rosters should be up to date at all times, within reason(one week). This shouldn't be a month long, two month, or half the season problem. Don't like my attitude, sorry but, I don't like the current system. Fix it and my supposed rants will have no back bone. Just because you are comfortable with a messy and untidy house doesn't mean that your roommates, family or guests will fill the same. This analogy holds true to this league. Right now, like it or not, the rosters are a mess, and that mess is unacceptable if you expect managers to know the rules and follow the regulations. Lead by example, what incentive do I have to keep my roster and clubhouse in order, if the league's "Official Rosters" is a mess. Trust me, I have enough responsibilities and duties in my personal life to not care at all. The fact that I'm taking my time to address these issues shows my interest in making the league better. If you don't want interested managers who are engaged, then run a basic 5x5 yahoo league and stop pretending you have the time and energy to run a professional league.

These are my thoughts, you can call them a rant, a tirade, a motha fucka out of his mind, but never the less, these are my thoughts and I would like them to be taken seriously, or I will not waste my time at all for any reason at all. You will not here from me with the exception of mandatory posts, and they will be short and to the point. Some may like it better that way, and others who knows. I for one enjoy a league packed with all sorts of personalities clashing and trash talking, this makes an exciting league to me. Every person is different but one thing is certain, your brain is like a parachute, if it's doesn't open up, then it's not working properly.

Without open debate and passionate arguments on all sides of a topic how can you truly sit down and make the proper judgement. I will post this email and yours in the discussion board. If it is deleted, then I know where I stand with the commissioners of this league. If it stays then we can all find out where I stand with the rest of the league. Or at least those who will spend some time out of their important day to read and reply.

Last and final thoughts, I'm glad that I joined this league and I'm ready to bring forth the effort to make my team competitive week in and week out until I can roster a team that can contend for a chip. This will take some time to rebuild, years even, but with this level of commitment I have expectations of my own. I expect if I'm to put forth years worth of effort and research that the league I'm in, will value my input and be on top of their duties. Taking over a team, is alot harder then drafting the team you would like. I have a daunting task ahead of me, as most of the current top prospects are taken, and some teams are overloaded with talent compared to others. Life isn't fair, so I accept the challenge. How many managers would do this? I believe most would want to re-draft. How many managers here would want to re-draft? I bet none that have good teams and have spent the last few years diligently building these teams up. Why would you want to silence a competitor who has accepted these lopsided terms of engagement. I would embrace this type of manager. IMO Without managers like myself and the few others who have accepted this unfair starting point, this league would die the fate of so many other franchise leagues. People loose interest after bad decisions, trades, draft choices and years of losing. They quit and move on. Then you are forced to find replacements which becomes harder and harder when the teams become as lopsided as they are headed now. The last resort would be to re-draft and start over from square. This is not my intention btw. I want to start at a disadvantage, I purposely tried to find a league to take a team over, I wanted the challenge. MY time and effort show that I want this league to strive and flourish, please allow all posts to remain by all managers, even if they start a debate, or spark a fire of passion, or incite rage or laughter. As long as they are not personal attacks I believe an open dialogue is always superior to censored material. Regardless of the perceived undertones, or initial assessment of the reader. Thanks for your time and understanding in this matter.

Thanks
Sticcs.



I believe that we will never always agree on everything, but lets agree on one thing, that censorship is wrong and un-American. Through dialogue and open conversation we should always find reasonable and common ground to stand.



"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

Harry S. Truman


"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

Mark Twain


"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."


Salman Rushdie

[Brian (Blue Jays GM)]

I was going to keep this private, but Sticcs had no respect for my desire to keep our discussions private, so I'm not going to afford him that respect either.

Sticcs,

I don't think this is the right league for you. You clearly are looking for something a bit more "professional" as you put it.

To be perfectly honest with you, I think your attitude sucks and you've been nothing but a jerk/bully towards Ben and I. I asked you to be respectful and work with us as we try to resolve the issues you raised (and agreed with you that they are issues), you came back to me telling me to "call my mommy to help me adjust."

You're the newest member of the league and yet you've come roaring in telling us what's acceptable and what isn't, what we have to do, etc. I'm sorry but these complaints have not arisen from ANY other member, many of whom have been with us for the entire 3 seasons we've been running this game. Ben and I created this league and its rules ourselves, have spent countless hours setting up those rosters, adding in every draft pick and waiver claim and free agent signing (along with Jesse and Smitty of course!). Not one GM has ever taken this kind of issue with us because if you bothered to even look at what has been done rather than what hasn't, you'd see how much hard work and dedication it took to get to 3 years.

Multiple GMs have come to me and said that your "rants" are pointless and don't serve the purpose you're trying to achieve at all. Quite honestly, we don't do things the way you're trying to do them here.

I think it's time you took your nasty attitude, lack of respect, and insults somewhere else.

Best of luck to you.

[Brian (Blue Jays GM)]

Sticcs has been removed from his position as GM of the Pirates.

However, the commissioners feel that the issues he raised were legitimate, even if he approached them in a way that was more disrespectful than constructive.

Smitty will be addressing and updating the official rosters as soon as he can.

We appreciate all of your patience, dedication, and continued support to this league.

[Rob (Rockies GM)]

I'll be honest, I haven't seen any of Sticcs rants, and I really have no interest in doing so.

This is probably the most well run Dynasty league that I've been a part of, and after 10-15 years of Fantasy Leagues, that's saying something.

Ben, Brian, Jesse, Smitty, and all the folks here are good peeps, and I can't imagine anyone coming in, having a problem with the way things are run.

We all have outside interests, we all have lives, and we're here to relax and have fun.

Have fun. Or don't. But if you choose don't, I'm in agreement that THIS is not the place to do so.

[Chris (Former Cubs GM)]

A+ Rob. Couldn't of said it any better.

[Smitty (Mets GM)]

We're aware of the gap between moves made and how it reflects the Official Rosters. No, it's not up to date.

That said, it's about 95% accurate and infinitely more intuitive than any other league I've seen operated over a third party forum. I'll be home later and will beat the heat by playing a little catch-up. Thanks for the support and for keeping our league fun, friendly and free.

[Deleted]

My opinions differ from the majority of the league most of the time, but I must applaud the commissioners for handling this (as well as the many other aspects of the league) incredibly well. You guys are doing a pretty excellent job and have managed to keep this running so well for 3 seasons now. My previous two leagues never had a dream of making it this far. I haven't had all that many issues with the official rosters though thank you Smitty for takings ownership of that. I trust almost all of the GMs in this league and I can't imagine anyone is seriously cheating in this fun and relaxing environment. I fully trust the clubhouse rosters in the meantime. Thanks again.

[Ben (Rays GM)]

So, Sticcs has obviously been removed from his position as GM of the Pirates, and for good reason - if you've read his latest rant, I imagine the vast majority of you will support this decision. If you’re of the opinion that nothing more needs to be said, I sympathize with you. However, since one of Sticcs’ issues was censorship (and the implied lack of transparency that comes with it), here’s some transparency – how this problem developed from start to finish, at least from my point of view. Whether you read on or not is up to you.

Personally, my main issues with Sticcs were his inability to conduct himself civilly (as I think is pretty apparent from his posts) and his unwillingness to let things go. Both of these were apparent to me early on, when one of the first messages he sent my way was a series of rapid-fire questions culminating with a complaint about having to search for free agents himself. I explained why a complete, official list of free agents wasn't possible: literally anybody can be bid on, as long as they've completed a year of service and aren't on a roster. If you think Pete Rose is likely to attempt a come back, go ahead and bid on him - or, perhaps more realistically, somebody like Clete Thomas, who hasn't completed a year of service since 2009 and obviously wouldn't have appeared on any list of free agents we might have made, but was available as a free agent nonetheless. I also made some suggestions about what he could do instead: use the unofficial lists that Brian and Smitty have both created, or go through the available player lists on the two yahoo leagues side-by-side looking for repeats (if you sort them by rank, repeats are easy to spot) and then check the official rosters using the ctrl+f trick. I've had similar conversations with many of you in the past; I understand where you're coming from, as I would love to have a free agent list as well, but when I explain why it can't be done, all of you have understood where I'm coming from. Sticcs didn't, and continued to send PMs about the point: his second of three PMs on the subject read "So is there a list of taken players, or are you telling me I have to search every teams roster for every player to find out if he is taken??? That just seems a lil tedious."

As a point of contrast, take a look at the far more positive way our new White Sox GM, Chris, handled the same question. Chris posted "Is there any reasonably easy way to see available free agents?" and received quick answers from both Zack and me, after which he it appears that he understood the reasoning behind the way we do it this way and moved on. Contrary to what Sticcs would have you believe, I have no problem with people asking questions or voicing displeasure with the way things are done in this league, and I have no problem with opening productive dialogue about any issues you might want to discuss. I do, however, have a problem with people who, when things don't go their way, continue to badger, berate, and ultimately belittle in an attempt to get what they want.

The next issue had to do with the bidding on Chris Denorfia. When Jay pointed out that Sticcs' bid was illegal, I made the same determination that I've made in similar situations in the past - that the goal of bidding should be to give both teams the opportunity to bid as much as they're willing to pay for a player, and that we should keep the bidding open for some additional time (less than 24 hours). Jay had no issue with my decision, even though it was his claim on Denorfia that had been revoked, but Sticcs came complaining to me again, saying that Denorfia should be his and accusing Jay of trying to manipulate the system, something which I'm convinced Jay wasn't trying to do. Even after I reiterated my decision and my reasons for it, Sticcs continued to hassle me with complaints over the decision. When I stuck by the only decision that was fair to both concerned parties, Jay and Sticcs continued the bidding. When Jay won, Sticcs responded to the thread with his now infamous "that's so gay" comment. I deleted the comment for obvious reasons. Call it censorship if you want, but I stand by the decision. I messaged Sticcs explaining my reasoning and letting him know that the comment was completely unacceptable. I received no response. To Sticcs' credit, he has apparently realized that the comment was inappropriate and regrets posting it; however, his post today was the first time I was made aware of this regret.

At this point, I was sensing an obvious pattern, and Sticcs' tactics were clear: he was going to make it as difficult for me to rule against him as possible in the hopes that he'd get his own way, if not this time then at least in the future. Around this same time, Sticcs also began complaining about teams' rosters not being 100% up to date. See his complete, unedited message below:

So why do some teams get to be over the salary cap? There are several teams who seem to be over the cap, is there a penalty for being over the cap? How can a team over the cap still bid on free agency? Assuming they win the bid then they would be forced to drop minor league contracts to fit the budget but if they were already over the cap then where's the rule enforcement for originally going over the cap? You either have to stay under the cap, or the cap is just for fun? I'm confused? Why are the rosters incorrect then? How long before the rosters are corrected? How long can you have an incorrect roster posted without penalty? Shouldn't there be a free agent list? Doesn't seem fair that a team who can't even afford their own roster gets to bid on players that other teams want to roster and can afford to. How about if you don't have the room, you either make room or you can't bid, this whole figure my cap after the fact is for the birds. So I can just bid bid bid on any free agent even if I have no way of fitting that person on my roster or under my cap? I know they can drop minor league contracts but c'mon. What's the time frame on getting under the cap? There should be no reason then for someone to be over the cap. They should have to fix it immediately. Either make the drops or cuts or be forced to release players, seems simple to me.

I share Sticcs' sentiment that teams should be held to their caps and roster limits, and I think it's unfortunate that there are teams that are above the limits. However, I also am aware that part of the reason teams do go above their caps briefly is because their rosters are changing so rapidly, and I don't think that being so strict as to demand instant rectification if a team goes over is necessary or useful, as I know that those teams aren't intentionally violating the spirit of the rules. I was, however, appalled by the tone of this message, but I'll let you all judge that for yourselves.

I responded to Sticcs' message with my explanation. For one thing, we just don't always have the time to be as on top of it as we'd like. For another, at this point in the league, it's just not a priority. Now is not the time when a lot of trading is going down. Come the trade deadline, the official rosters will be a top priority. During the offseason, the official rosters will be a top priority. Right now, Yahoo is the priority. Sticcs didn't know this, since he's only been in the league for a few weeks and wasn’t aware of how these different priorities change throughout the year, or how certain times may have more activity than others.

Sticcs actually responded to this rather graciously, and I thought the matter was closed. Meanwhile, Smitty picked up some of the slack and began working on rosters. It seemed that, despite his initial nastiness, Sticcs' valid points had gotten through and it was time to move on.

Last week, I woke up to see a new post on the discussions thread from Sticcs. It wasn't a particularly long post (one paragraph, seven or eight lines of text), but it basically called out the commissioners for being incompetent and not doing their jobs. It was not an appropriate way to open a constructive discussion about the issue (an issue that he had spoken about already, that we were already dealing with, and that, as far as I knew, he was feeling better about), so I deleted it, as, in my opinion, it did more harm than good. As I would later explain to Sticcs, "My responsibility is to the continued success of this league, and if I think a post is doing more harm than good to that end, I'm going to delete it; it's nothing personal." We've kept this league going for three years now, and my prerogative is to keeping it going for many more. That may not be everybody else's top priority, and I may have to make difficult or unpopular decisions here or there in order to maintain that priority, but so far, the decisions I've made have clearly worked. At this point, I felt like reminding Sticcs that this was a free league and if he didn't like it, he could pack up and find a new one. I elected not to, but I did sent a message explaining my decision (see the first PM that Sticcs posted above) and shared my concerns with Brian. In retrospect, I wish I had saved the post that Sticcs had posted that morning, but it was early and my brain wasn't fully awake, and I unfortunately didn't think of doing so until after. However, as Brian pointed out in the second PM Sticcs posted above, another GM saw it and described it as "some crazy rant" and "a swipe at the commissioner." When I later asked that same GM (as far as I know, he's the only other person who saw it) if he could remember more of its content, he would say "what stuck me as unacceptable was that the tone of the post was politely and yet pointedly sarcastic towards you all. The phrase "dripping with sarcasm" immediately came to mind when I read it."

The funny thing is that the overall the feeling, even from the commissioners, is that Sticcs had a point. Keep in mind, we had already begun working on correcting the problem. But at the same time, there seems to be complete consensus that Sticcs was out of line with his tone. However, when confronted about that tone, Sticcs made it clear that he didn't care, that he wasn't here to make friends, that how we took his tone was our problem, and that we were acting like dictators: “With all due respect sir you shouldn't worry about my "tone" but instead concentrate on my words. I am not talking but I am typing, and if I were talking and my "tone" at any point became offensive to you, I apologize, but once again my words is what you should be paying attention to. I can't sit here and try to consider every little inner feeling that could be hurt in every fragile, emotional creature in the world.”

He said that from now on he wouldn't post anything besides official business: “If you want to pretend that censorship is the answer to avoid having the problem addressed, I guess its your league, your rules. We can all just pretend this league, its rules and its staff are perfect above reproach. Because of this, I will avoid posting anymore comments in the future, now your problem with my posts is solved. I guess I will continue dealing with my problem in silence… Your league, your rules. If you want to rule like a dictator, so be it. I will not start a revolution or revolt in your league. I will just not post anything past official roster moves. It's that simple sir. Enjoy.” Keep in mind that this is his response to the first PM that he posted above. You tell me which one of us handled it better, and which one of us blew things out of proportion.

So, in other words, Sticcs was removing himself from the community, and just wanted to participate in the league as a silent member. Why it had to be so black or white, I don’t know. I explained that this wasn't what we wanted, and encouraged him to continue to speak his mind but to do so productively and constructively, not destructively, but he didn't seem to grasp what he had done wrong and maintained his stance. I guess he felt we should either let him rant to his heart's content or else he would maintain his silence, and that there was no middle ground. At this point I couldn't see any reason why Sticcs would even stick around, as he clearly wasn't happy in this league, and figured he might as well leave. However, I was not yet ready to make that decision for him as we wanted to give him every chance to stick around, so Brian and I decided that perhaps he (Brian) should give it a go, since clearly Sticcs and I had reached an impasse.

Brian drafted what I thought was a really well crafted message to Sticcs (see the second message that Sticcs posted above) and I was fully in support of sending it with no changes, as to me, it seemed a perfect balance between making it clear what was acceptable and what wasn’t while also still being sympathetic with where we thought Sticcs was coming from. I was still optimistic that the situation could be rectified, although I also realized that this was something of a make or break moment for Sticcs, as he would either accept that he hadn’t handled the situation correctly and we could move on, or else he would respond to Brian with a similar level of animosity to that which he had shown me. However, for a few he didn’t respond at all, which surprised me. Of course, that was nothing compared to the surprise of what happened today.

So, you've seen the last PM that either Brian or I had sent to Sticcs. You've seen, through his post, exactly what was said to him. And you've seen through his actions how he responded. This brings us to today...

Unfortunately I was not around this morning, and missed what turned out to be the final straw in terms of Sticcs’ tenure in the league. However, had I been here I would have made the same decision that Brian ended up having to make (with Smitty’s consent and the approval of various other GMs who were around at the time, it should be said). I feel that it was completely inappropriate to take what was meant as a private conversation and publicize it for the purpose of calling people out. With various other GMs describing Sticcs’ post as yet another pointless rant, it was clear that Sticcs had worn out his welcome, and his removal was set in stone.

If I had been here, I also would have been able to put a permanent IP ban on Sticcs’ chatango account, preventing what happened next before it began. Unfortunately I was not, so Sticcs took his argument with Brian to the chat box. He also posted in the NL Yahoo league. The chatango argument was deleted accidentally when I tried to ban Sticcs’ account, but the post on Yahoo remains. Feel free to take a look. His tone had changed at this point, in a few ways. On the one hand, his posts on the chatango were even more inflammatory, negative, and nasty. He called into question the commissioners’ maturity, and hurled various insults our way. On the other hand, he also tried to revise history, perhaps in order to make himself out to be less in the wrong than he was. Now his narrative was that he was just trying to help, in order to make a good thing better. For the first time, Sticcs decided to compliment the league, saying it was near perfect with just a few flaws, using the metaphor of a Ferrari with a dirty windshield. According to Sticcs, he was just the guy coming by to say "nice car" and to offer to clean the windshield, and that it was completely unjust of us to turn him away.

Well Sticcs, you can't change history, so allow me to edit your metaphor. In no way were you the guy coming by to offer politely to clean the windshield. You were the annoying hitchhiker in the backseat complaining that the stereo didn’t display the title of the song we were listening to, who then threw a fit when we didn’t choose the song he wanted to play next, and who then demanded we drive faster and then, when we didn’t, who opened the windows and started shouting at the other cars about how unfairly you were being treated, and who further complained when we told you not to. All that time you never complimented the Ferrari - not that you needed to, but maybe we would have had a little more patience for you if you had Well, just like that hitchhiker, you’ve been thrown out of the Ferrari, and I don’t think you’re going to get much sympathy from anybody else on the road.

Once again though, I want to reiterate that in a lot of ways, Sticcs was right. The delay on the official rosters was a problem. It was a problem that we had every intention (and had already begun) dealing with regardless of his outburst, but it was a problem nonetheless, and perhaps, thanks to Sticcs, it will now get addressed sooner rather than later. But just because you’re right doesn’t mean you can’t also be in the wrong. On chatango, Sticcs accused Brian of being childish, and insisted that one day, when he grows up, he’ll understand where Sticcs was coming from. Yet Sticcs is the one who didn’t understand the value of maintaining a positive community, who thought he was above civility and respectful conversation, and who believed that just because he had a point, it entitled him to stamp his feet and shout at the top of his lungs and be as much of a cancer and a miserable presence as he wanted to be without repercussions. Sticcs wanted transparency, and now we have it – 3000 words describing exactly what happened, from start to finish. If you’re actually still reading this, you now have the knowledge to decide for yourselves who the childish one was.

Sticcs is out of the league now, and rightfully so. While I agree that censorship should be avoided, Sticcs has now lost his posting privileges on this board, and any future posts on either the board or the chatango will be subject to removal at the commissioners' discretion. The more valid points Sticcs raised are being addressed, while his blatant misconduct and errors in judgment in expressing those points have been dealt with and are now being openly discussed. I look forward to moving on from this unpleasantness, but am also happy to continue discussing it if people feel like there’s more to be said. Over the past few hours, various other GMs have expressed their appreciation for the way this league has been run, and I appreciate these comments – our goal is to make this league as truly excellent as it can be, and I’m pleased by how any of you seem to see it that way. I want to express my own appreciation for the 28 of you, whether you’re a league veteran who has stayed active for extended periods of times through both high points and low points and helped in your many ways to make this league as fantastic as it is, or whether you’ve joined more recently, taking on the significant challenge of adjusting to a new league with a new set of rules while figuring out how to turn around a team you inherited from somebody else. All of you bring your own unique perspectives and thoughts to the process of running this league, and I welcome all of those thoughts, whether the praise, the criticisms, or everything in between. Let’s all of us continue to interact respectfully, constructively, and productively to make this league the best we can make it.

[Deleted]

If I can sum up your thoughts in a word, Ben: Bravo!

[Deleted]

well done Ben, brian and all of you.
I was online when Sticcss posted that out his thread and i was like WTF!I was this close of hitting "post reply" with my response to his thread but decided not to to avoid making things worse...everything has to be done the right way. if all he got is complain, then he doesn't belong here. nobody forced him to join this league in the first place.
Let's enjoy the rest of the way and thanks to all the commish and GMs for all your efforts!!!

[Kevin (Guardians GM)]

Agree with everyone and I know from my dealings with Ben and Brian that they have always been professional and responsible with their replies.

There is no perfect league but this is by far one of the best that I have ever been involved with.