Without context, even the truth becomes a lie.

It's been a difficult few weeks, and I've taken time to reflect before responding. What follows isn't a defence of my character or an attempt to relitigate what's happened. It's a correction of the record on specific claims that I believe have been misrepresented, and I think that's owed to anyone engaging with this in good faith.

I want to address a number of specific claims directly and on the record. Not to paint myself as a victim, and not to deflect from things I've genuinely done wrong, but because I believe some of what has been presented as fact is missing important context, and the people engaging with this in good faith deserve to have that context available to them.

What I'm asking for isn't sympathy. It's a fair hearing before you form your opinion on me.

Goats

Everyone has a goat - some mistake or misfortune - that follows them around and starts to define how others see them, regardless of everything else they've done or who they've become since.

After six years, I've become somewhat of a goat shepherd. I've made mistakes, I acknowledge that. But there's a difference between a community that holds someone accountable and one that collects every goat a person has ever accumulated, strips them of context, and presents them all at once as a definitive portrait of who that person is. I feel like that's what occurred on June 6/7.

Revealing the content of an "anonymous" Staff feedback response to gain political points

A particular member made an aggressive feedback survey entry about me. It was so aggressive that another member of server leadership messaged me privately and apologised that I had to read it.

The survey said that: Your answers are private and are only viewed by senior members of staff. Putting your username in the survey is voluntary.

The player messaged a public channel saying that they were leaving the server due to me, and I acknowledged their response with 'quite apparent in your survey entry.' At no point was anything material from the survey response shared.

No part of this was political.

End pasted a building into the main city, using his owner permissions to do so. He was not a part of the DCT at the time.

I have built directly into the city for over six years. I always provide materials and pay the same fees as everyone else, and I have encouraged other senior staff to do the same when they haven't done so appropriately.

Removing a political opponent from voice calls he did not have control over while the political opponent was campaigning

I asked Multiman to leave a VC I was in when he started yelling at me.

In the absence of another staff member, I moved him out when he continued to yell at me.

Interrupting staff report tickets that are about him to argue and berate the reporter

Berate is a very charged word for discussing reporting. I agreed not to respond in srep tickets months ago and I haven't since.

Using owner permissions to delete filings in court cases so he could re-post a different filing

I accidentally submitted a court filing mid-writeup. I deleted the incomplete submission and posted the finished version two minutes later. I apologised to the court at the time.

Using owner permissions to comment on bills in the Senate while he was in the House, even after the Senate changed its standing orders to explicitly ban Representatives from commenting on Senate bills

I wasn't aware of the permission changes. Forums doesn't prevent me from posting in areas where my access has been restricted, so I rely on knowing what roles have permissions where. When I became aware, I apologised to the Senate.

Using owner permissions to delete his own wanted point after he was held in contempt of court, while not working for the DHS

This happened while I was working on tickets and being chased by police. I served the sentence in full.

Insisting staff keep all criticism of him in-house, discouraging them from speaking out to the wider server about his breaches of Staff Policy

What I said was:

'I will always criticise your actions quietly and commend you publicly. I'd ask you for staff solidarity at a time where I'm getting absolutely destroyed by the community. You guys are close enough to me that you can all message me privately to discuss your concerns.'

I stand by that. It reflects how any healthy team should operate.

Released a pro-new-player announcement in #server-announcements the day the Presidential declarations opened and announced DemocracyCraft discount codes in #server-announcements from his personal account the day before Presidential declarations opened

This was over a week before polling, before elections had opened, and was made strictly in a staff capacity. It addressed toxic behaviour toward new players and promoted the server store to the large number of people joining at the time. Both are standard ownership responsibilities.

Told a new player who was requesting access to the Stage VC that “staff aren’t dogs at your beck and call”

I stand by this. They demanded the access, not requested. I don't believe its appropriate to go into a staff ticket and demand/direct support, hence the response to them was a request for them to please use their manners when asking things of the staff team in tickets.

Unilaterally un-banned Alexander Love, against a unanimous staff vote to leave him banned, and requested a female staff member who Alex had harassed supervise Alex (This is just so fucked up in so many ways. This is the dead horse I will keep beating. Justice for Elaina).

There is significant context missing from this characterisation. Given that this is a player punishment, and particularly the circumstances around it, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it any further. I'm not dismissing the seriousness of the concern - we just don't share player punishment details.

Refused to accept juniperfig's resignation from President while she was going through a health crisis, as it didn't come directly from her and End's political opponent would have benefited from juniperfig's removal

This was not a staff matter, and I was not a decision maker in whether Juniper stayed or resigned. I advocated politically for her being allowed to finish out her term rather than being removed with one to two weeks remaining. I don't think that was unreasonable.

Using slurs

A screenshot circulated showing me typing two slurs in full in a staff channel. This occurred during a staff discussion about adding those words to the automated content filter.

Transphobic/Homophobic

I'm certainly neither transphobic or homophobic - the suggestion that I was manifested after I denied a player deleting her username off forums. This decision was made on the basis of our longstanding norms and data retention policy of not deleting forums content, not for any other reason described.

Several of these incidents are years old.

I'm happy to discuss any of this with anyone who wants to chat in good faith.

E