Is your head spinning with all these posts?

[Bleys]

And that just left you with stymiee out of that triumvarite... and no one wants to be stymieed that way... (uggh, sorry... someone shoot me )

[Peter T Davis]

I'm an optimist by nature and I thought maybe I could make a difference in the long run. I wasn't happy but I wanted to make it better. It was pretty humbling to be invited in with such enthusiasm. Besides, Chris, Stymiee and Mattais (sp) were going to be on my team. These are three of the people I respected most. After I was promoted, Mattais left and Chris was booted off. It kind of sucked the last of my spirit out.

That doesn't really make sense to me Ken. I could respect you resigning in protest for what happened to Chris. But what you write there makes no sense to me. You can't even spell Mattias's name, but he was one of your most respected people? And, he seems to be still an Advisor, are you privy to information about him that I am not? And, John seems to be puffing along as strong as ever. So, that leaves Chris, and up until this week there wasn't a hint of dissatisfaction regarding him. Furthermore, I don't recall ever hearing you make much of a fuss on the staff about being unhappy about anything. You wanted to make a difference in the long run, but quit after a month?

[KLB]

That doesn't really make sense to me Ken. I could respect you resigning in protest for what happened to Chris.

Even an optimous has a breaking point. I waited several days to see what would happen and how SP would respond before I made a decision. Their response sealed it. I know that SP was all very corporate by their response and politically correct spin doctoring. Once I saw this I knew it would never get better so there was no use trying. I also knew that SP no longer provided me with as much knowledge as I wanted. You may not see it, but it does make sense, both my accepting the position, which I did in good faith, and my resigning.

You can't even spell Mattias's name, but he was one of your most respected people?

I've never been able to spell his name. It is a name I've never seen before him and I've never heard it said. Spelling isn't my strong suit to begin with (I live and die by spell checkers) so I don't see anything surprising about not being able to spell his name. If you look at any of our discussions and my comments over the past two years you will know that there was a mutual respect between us. We didn't agree on many things, but we really enjoyed discussing and debating topics. He was the reason I stayed at SPF when I first joined and we were on the opposite side of a debate. Mattias might have been one of the smartest members at SPF. Chris is arguably one of the most successful.

And, he seems to be still an Advisor, are you privy to information about him that I am not?

He stated that he had decided to step down in the team forums and was basically retiring from SPF. He said that things in his life were changing and he had to readjust his priorities. They just never got around to officially removing his status.

Furthermore, I don't recall ever hearing you make much of a fuss on the staff about being unhappy about anything. You wanted to make a difference in the long run, but quit after a month?

I have expressed my displeasure about many things over the past six months in the regular forums. I always got the impression; however, that things were being worked on. Once I became a mentor and could see those forums I saw how little was really being done in regards to issues I had expressed concern on. No, I didn't say much in the team forums but this was because I was trying to figure things out. One doesn't just jump into something like becoming a mentor and start stating how they feel about this or that. They have to take time to learn and feel their way around.

Based on the way SP treated Chris and tried to spin the whole issue and based on my reading of all of the rules and guidelines in the team forums I realized just how corporate SPF was. I've had my feel of corporate. I don't like corporate and I don't do corporate and I hate PC spin. Once things went down with Chris the way they did and every body went into spin/damage control mode, I knew that my opinion would make little to no difference and it was useless to try to change things.

I decided I would do what was best for me personally and professionally. What was best for me was to spend my energies someplace besides SPF. I participate in forums to learn more about web publishing, learn how to make more money doing it and to network. My forum time is better spent in these forums where I can learn stuff from really successful people.

You may not see my perspective, but I really don't care. Each decision I have made it was because I thought it was the best decision at the time. Circumstances can change very rapidly and sometimes one is forced to reevaluate things in very short order and circumstances can change very quickly. I did what I felt I must do.

[Cutter]

I think ultimately what it boils down to is that you have to be comfortable in the community you are participating in or else why participate?

I have seen pretty much the same situation as you are describing KLB happen on other forums. Experienced and very helpful user sees something thats wrong, suggest a change, forum administration ignores the person, the person leaves. There are only so many people that participate in a forum and really make it valuable. The forum activity doesn't drop, but it really takes a major "brain drain" hit, which is painfully obvious to the experienced users. Its these subtle changes that can really hurt the long term future of a forum.

[Vinnie]

My F5 key is turning raw :\

[KLB]

Boy that will teach me to go to sleep, I wake up and there are like 20 posts waiting to be read

[Stymiee: 164]

[Peter T Davis]

Sorry if I seem like I'm picking on you Ken, it just would have made so much more sense to me if you had just said you resign as a result of what happened with Chris, all that other stuff still just doesn't make sense to me. Not that it should matter to you, just sorry if I sound like I'm picking on you.

[KLB]

Sometimes things don't make sense, like maybe this post, but my gut was not feeling right over everything and after several days I was still fretting much more than I ever had over other changes I didn't like at SP. My gut has been telling me I needed to make a change. The first change was to become a mentor, that didn't help it made things worse. Chris was the last straw and I saw the opportunity these forums provide me.

I don't have the time to participate both here and at SPF, I don't like what SP is doing to SPF, I didn't like what SP did to Chris and I think I stand to learn more here. Resigning as a mentor was the only logical choice. It wouldn't be right to continue as a mentor but spend most of my time here.