Hi all,
I feel it's right to respond to some of the points that are being raised so you can see the situation from another side. Initially we thought maybe responding would only stir more controversy, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to be transparent about some of the things that are being said which just simply aren't true. I do not have the leverage that others have of being part of the server for a long time - but I do have a few things to say that defy some of the arguments that are being made.
This is one of the main arguments so I will elaborate on this first. The picture that is being drawn is that Zack and kvids had no say whatsoever in any of the decision making, which is simply not true. To prove this to you I will provide a complete rundown of events that went down in the management team.
11/09/2021 Discord Prune Incident
One of the first things that happened immediately after I joined, was an accident where members of our Discord were being pruned. Zack notified me about this issue and he made the necessary changes in collaboration with Neon to make sure this wouldn't happened again. He made sure that the permissions were taken away from Discord staff to do this.
17/09/2021 Meeting with didgo
Didgo contacted us about wanting to join back as a staff member. We setup a call to discuss. This first call was just between kvids, didgo and me, and was a basic conversation where we asked what value he could bring to the team and what he wanted to do for the server. After the call I felt quite positive about him, however kvids felt like he was asking for a role which was not in line with what we were looking for. I reasoned with this and said it is best for them to decide considering they are more experienced. Zack wanted to setup a second call because he could not attend originally, so him and kvids spoke together with didgo again and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be in our best interest to hire him. I followed their advice (see here).
17/09/2021 Kvids/Zack requesting file access
Kvids and Zack asked for permission to the server files. I told them that this is not something which I can decide, and that they should message Skeppy/Neon about it. They raised it in a group chat where the decision was made that access cannot be given (proof - blurred neon's personal details). A day later, we sat in a meeting and we looked at the specific reasons why they needed permission to the physical machines. This mainly came down to 1) being able to test things that they are developing, and 2) being able to copy over schematics from one server to another. I offered to setup a development server for them which they could have full access to, and an automated system which copies over all the schematics between the servers. I tried to help them the best way I could. Unfortunately, today I still don't have access to the machines they requested even myself so I have not been able to arrange this.
20/09/2021 Network recoding suggestions
Since our devs are currently working on the recode, Zack and kvids forwarded a document to me with some of their suggestions. One of my key tasks whilst being here is being 1-on-1 with the developers, so they asked if I could pass this feedback along. One of the suggestions that they added that day was a patch to a running and eating bug. I passed this on to the developer who fixed the problem in our recoded Spigot. (proof1, proof2)
24/09/2021 Update planning
I took a break for a few days because of a personal problem (relationship breakup) and had to take my mind off of things. I got back on the 24th and joined a call with zack/kvids where they got me back up to speed. We discussed updates which we wanted to do on the server in the coming weeks, mainly the KitPvP update. This was completely done in conjunction with them, in fact they pretty much directed the entire update. Zack and kvids brought up to me that Mega was working on KitPvP changes which were never pushed and that these were ready to publish on the server. This covered the knockback and duels update (I didn't even know this existed). They were also working on new maps that would be ready for the weekend, and suggested to create a new monthly crate as this wasn't updated for a while. We agreed that they would decide the contents of the crate and that I would configure it once ready. I never received the contents of the crate so it could not be finished - something which they also lied about to staff and players (Document discussing the update, me asking for crate/build progress on day of release).
Regarding the actual decision of doing an update vs. reset - we had a discussion about this on Sep 17 during one of our meetings. Zack and kvids explained that it was long overdue for a reset, however I explained that Skeppy didn't want to do any resets to the server until the recode was finished. I also argued that I thought it wasn't in the player's interests to do a reset on Oct 1st, and then again a month later on Nov 1st. This was the date which we were working towards getting the recode finished. They agreed that if development was on schedule, having a month in between resets wouldn't be a good idea. And so the decision was made to do an update.
24/09/2021 Staff Applications & New era post
Besides the update, we talked about staff applications. Kvids and Zack informed me that they should be opened right away. I agreed and gave them full control over this. They mentioned that they were working on a new requirements post which they wanted me to see and approve. The next day they posted a draft of the announcement post, and a draft of the new requirements. I gave my feedback (as you do in a team) and they posted it (proof). The staff applications were completely handed off to them.
We also intended for a while to post an announcement to the players about the management changes ("new era" post). A week after joining seemed good as that allowed me to get a grip of things. In a global staff call on September 19th I told our staff that it would be posted within a few hours after the call. This is when I became unavailable due to dealing with the issue above, which caused it to be delayed. When I got back on the 25th, it was brought up in our meeting and I drafted a post right away. I asked the other managers for approval and they gave the ok to post. (see here - note it was posted in our drafts forum first, which is private to staff).
25/09/2021 Forum Maintenance
When staff applications were posted, I noticed some small quirks on the forums - like the application form going through a link thread instead of a button. I told the other managers that I was going to go through the admin panel that day to make some changes to things that were messy. I communicated with them about this and they gave feedback on things that they wanted changed - which I did or wrote down without any objections. I know that to staff (and players?) they have been saying that they asked for access to this panel and it was rejected, however they never asked and I would have given it to them. Some screenshots on them asking for forum changes: resetting users, discussing appeal limit before it was removed, more feedback from them, all agreed to, changelog, forum addon.
28/09/2021 KitPvP Update
On Sep 28 we had a meeting to check status on the KitPvP update. We concluded that everything was tested and that we would announce the update on Thursday. On Thursday, I was not available to write the post and it was further pushed to Sunday. This wasn't planned, however since no date was known to players yet we had a little bit of wiggle room for everything. I explained the situation and apologized for needing to push it. Once the announcement was ready, I sent it for review. Kvids recommended some changes to the post which were made (proof). From this moment on I pretty much received no further communication from them at all, even up until moments before the KitPvP update which needed to be checked (see here).
28/09/2021 Media Requirements
Also on the 28th, Zack and kvids asked if I was available for a quick call to discuss changes they wanted to make to the media requirements. In the call, they explained that the requirements needed to be adjusted, and that we should have a Media and Famous rank. I agreed but thought that "Famous" sounds a bit arrogant for the YouTubers who had this. They agreed and we decided on using "Partner" instead. They then made the changes they wanted to make. They didn't send the new requirements to be reviewed (I always send them all of my public posts for review), and made an announcement without communicating this. I don't care because they were given freedom to do so, but it's ironic considering they say they aren't given any power whilst I wasn't even involved in any of this.
So to conclude I think they had plenty of say in everything that was going on and it's really unfortunate to see them go out of their way to lie and manipulate to basically everyone about not having an influence in what was happening.
As you can see in my reply above, actually I didn't even know the knockback changes existed - it was suggested by the previous managers. Once we found out that players didn't like the change, we reverted it right away.
The way it is coded in our forums software doesn't allow for an approval/denial feature. As for actually adding it, me and Zack were a fan of it. kvids didn't like it (proof). Ended up remaining enabled to see what would happen and now that we figured they are in fact pretty difficult to moderate we removed them.
I think I've made it pretty clear that that wasn't the case
I am not going to reply to documents that were uploaded 5-6 years ago. I was 16 at the time and these have all been extensively covered already with the communities affected. 2 of the 3 documents which you provided originate from PrimeMC in 2015. We cleared our issues and I managed the server again from 2018-2019. After that, the server was consolidated with software from The Archon. If it interests you, the owner of PrimeMC is the person who referred me to Skeppy for this position.
InvadedLands has to move on. I'm sorry that this happened, and some of the concerns are valid (there are for example points I could have communicated better on within the team) - but this lying and manipulating needs to be put to rest. We have a giant recode happening and content in the works which needs to be pushed to the server. This is the reason why I immediately appointed new people in the team, so we could move forward.
If anybody has any further questions that have not been addressed yet by this post, me or the other managers will address them.
I feel it's right to respond to some of the points that are being raised so you can see the situation from another side. Initially we thought maybe responding would only stir more controversy, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to be transparent about some of the things that are being said which just simply aren't true. I do not have the leverage that others have of being part of the server for a long time - but I do have a few things to say that defy some of the arguments that are being made.
This is one of the main arguments so I will elaborate on this first. The picture that is being drawn is that Zack and kvids had no say whatsoever in any of the decision making, which is simply not true. To prove this to you I will provide a complete rundown of events that went down in the management team.
11/09/2021 Discord Prune Incident
One of the first things that happened immediately after I joined, was an accident where members of our Discord were being pruned. Zack notified me about this issue and he made the necessary changes in collaboration with Neon to make sure this wouldn't happened again. He made sure that the permissions were taken away from Discord staff to do this.
17/09/2021 Meeting with didgo
Didgo contacted us about wanting to join back as a staff member. We setup a call to discuss. This first call was just between kvids, didgo and me, and was a basic conversation where we asked what value he could bring to the team and what he wanted to do for the server. After the call I felt quite positive about him, however kvids felt like he was asking for a role which was not in line with what we were looking for. I reasoned with this and said it is best for them to decide considering they are more experienced. Zack wanted to setup a second call because he could not attend originally, so him and kvids spoke together with didgo again and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be in our best interest to hire him. I followed their advice (see here).
17/09/2021 Kvids/Zack requesting file access
Kvids and Zack asked for permission to the server files. I told them that this is not something which I can decide, and that they should message Skeppy/Neon about it. They raised it in a group chat where the decision was made that access cannot be given (proof - blurred neon's personal details). A day later, we sat in a meeting and we looked at the specific reasons why they needed permission to the physical machines. This mainly came down to 1) being able to test things that they are developing, and 2) being able to copy over schematics from one server to another. I offered to setup a development server for them which they could have full access to, and an automated system which copies over all the schematics between the servers. I tried to help them the best way I could. Unfortunately, today I still don't have access to the machines they requested even myself so I have not been able to arrange this.
20/09/2021 Network recoding suggestions
Since our devs are currently working on the recode, Zack and kvids forwarded a document to me with some of their suggestions. One of my key tasks whilst being here is being 1-on-1 with the developers, so they asked if I could pass this feedback along. One of the suggestions that they added that day was a patch to a running and eating bug. I passed this on to the developer who fixed the problem in our recoded Spigot. (proof1, proof2)
24/09/2021 Update planning
I took a break for a few days because of a personal problem (relationship breakup) and had to take my mind off of things. I got back on the 24th and joined a call with zack/kvids where they got me back up to speed. We discussed updates which we wanted to do on the server in the coming weeks, mainly the KitPvP update. This was completely done in conjunction with them, in fact they pretty much directed the entire update. Zack and kvids brought up to me that Mega was working on KitPvP changes which were never pushed and that these were ready to publish on the server. This covered the knockback and duels update (I didn't even know this existed). They were also working on new maps that would be ready for the weekend, and suggested to create a new monthly crate as this wasn't updated for a while. We agreed that they would decide the contents of the crate and that I would configure it once ready. I never received the contents of the crate so it could not be finished - something which they also lied about to staff and players (Document discussing the update, me asking for crate/build progress on day of release).
Regarding the actual decision of doing an update vs. reset - we had a discussion about this on Sep 17 during one of our meetings. Zack and kvids explained that it was long overdue for a reset, however I explained that Skeppy didn't want to do any resets to the server until the recode was finished. I also argued that I thought it wasn't in the player's interests to do a reset on Oct 1st, and then again a month later on Nov 1st. This was the date which we were working towards getting the recode finished. They agreed that if development was on schedule, having a month in between resets wouldn't be a good idea. And so the decision was made to do an update.
24/09/2021 Staff Applications & New era post
Besides the update, we talked about staff applications. Kvids and Zack informed me that they should be opened right away. I agreed and gave them full control over this. They mentioned that they were working on a new requirements post which they wanted me to see and approve. The next day they posted a draft of the announcement post, and a draft of the new requirements. I gave my feedback (as you do in a team) and they posted it (proof). The staff applications were completely handed off to them.
We also intended for a while to post an announcement to the players about the management changes ("new era" post). A week after joining seemed good as that allowed me to get a grip of things. In a global staff call on September 19th I told our staff that it would be posted within a few hours after the call. This is when I became unavailable due to dealing with the issue above, which caused it to be delayed. When I got back on the 25th, it was brought up in our meeting and I drafted a post right away. I asked the other managers for approval and they gave the ok to post. (see here - note it was posted in our drafts forum first, which is private to staff).
25/09/2021 Forum Maintenance
When staff applications were posted, I noticed some small quirks on the forums - like the application form going through a link thread instead of a button. I told the other managers that I was going to go through the admin panel that day to make some changes to things that were messy. I communicated with them about this and they gave feedback on things that they wanted changed - which I did or wrote down without any objections. I know that to staff (and players?) they have been saying that they asked for access to this panel and it was rejected, however they never asked and I would have given it to them. Some screenshots on them asking for forum changes: resetting users, discussing appeal limit before it was removed, more feedback from them, all agreed to, changelog, forum addon.
28/09/2021 KitPvP Update
On Sep 28 we had a meeting to check status on the KitPvP update. We concluded that everything was tested and that we would announce the update on Thursday. On Thursday, I was not available to write the post and it was further pushed to Sunday. This wasn't planned, however since no date was known to players yet we had a little bit of wiggle room for everything. I explained the situation and apologized for needing to push it. Once the announcement was ready, I sent it for review. Kvids recommended some changes to the post which were made (proof). From this moment on I pretty much received no further communication from them at all, even up until moments before the KitPvP update which needed to be checked (see here).
28/09/2021 Media Requirements
Also on the 28th, Zack and kvids asked if I was available for a quick call to discuss changes they wanted to make to the media requirements. In the call, they explained that the requirements needed to be adjusted, and that we should have a Media and Famous rank. I agreed but thought that "Famous" sounds a bit arrogant for the YouTubers who had this. They agreed and we decided on using "Partner" instead. They then made the changes they wanted to make. They didn't send the new requirements to be reviewed (I always send them all of my public posts for review), and made an announcement without communicating this. I don't care because they were given freedom to do so, but it's ironic considering they say they aren't given any power whilst I wasn't even involved in any of this.
So to conclude I think they had plenty of say in everything that was going on and it's really unfortunate to see them go out of their way to lie and manipulate to basically everyone about not having an influence in what was happening.
As you can see in my reply above, actually I didn't even know the knockback changes existed - it was suggested by the previous managers. Once we found out that players didn't like the change, we reverted it right away.
The way it is coded in our forums software doesn't allow for an approval/denial feature. As for actually adding it, me and Zack were a fan of it. kvids didn't like it (proof). Ended up remaining enabled to see what would happen and now that we figured they are in fact pretty difficult to moderate we removed them.
I think I've made it pretty clear that that wasn't the case
I am not going to reply to documents that were uploaded 5-6 years ago. I was 16 at the time and these have all been extensively covered already with the communities affected. 2 of the 3 documents which you provided originate from PrimeMC in 2015. We cleared our issues and I managed the server again from 2018-2019. After that, the server was consolidated with software from The Archon. If it interests you, the owner of PrimeMC is the person who referred me to Skeppy for this position.
Your "truth" comes from people who don't provide any evidence of anything whatsoever. The situation is really unfortunate, however I cannot account for two managers - who I worked with closely - to be upset about the fact they weren't solely considered for the management position and therefore retaliated against the staff team behind my back without discussing their issues with me at any point whatsoever.
InvadedLands has to move on. I'm sorry that this happened, and some of the concerns are valid (there are for example points I could have communicated better on within the team) - but this lying and manipulating needs to be put to rest. We have a giant recode happening and content in the works which needs to be pushed to the server. This is the reason why I immediately appointed new people in the team, so we could move forward.
If anybody has any further questions that have not been addressed yet by this post, me or the other managers will address them.
