There are two specific instances of my recent conduct that I want to demystify for the public and bring to light.
1) Three weeks ago, in a survivor lobby game that I was hosting, I insulted some players with hateful statements. I was rude and hurtful towards them in unnecessary ways and I regret my behavior. I acted in an overly-emotional, immature way. As I reflect back on it, I wasn't even angry at them as people - I'd performed poorly in some job interviews in the few days preceding the events and unfairly took out my frustration on them.
I regret what I've said to Gateful, baito, and Leaves. Insults were hurled from both sides, but no matter how justified I felt I was, I've come to realize that as a member of the mod team, I need to act as the parent in these situations. This, to me, means I must act professionally and courteously under all circumstances. It was a one-time lapse in judgment that I hope to never repeat again.
I immediately deleted the game after it was finished because I instantly regretted my behavior and did not want my words to sink in for the other players. I was wrong to do so and I apologize for that. I hope you can forgive me for this.
2) My decision making when it comes to handling cases involving Dyl/ThirdAug has been criticized. The accusations that I heard involving him (from round 427) were heavily criticized and when I investigated them further, they often contained contradictory information. I picked up a pattern when I looked at his games that round with vibe, and discussed it with the investigators at the time. We agreed that it was suspicious but not enough to make a cheating case, so I confronted Dyl about it and told him to stop playing games with her.
The next time that a cheating case came up involving him was when he trophied with Jeff - in this instance I ignored input from both parties and did an investigation myself (independently from the other investigators), the results of which I posted in the round thread of that particular round. I, as well as the investigators who looked into their games, did not find suspicious activity going on between them.
Regarding his leash extension rather than ban reinstatement upon breaking his 1-violation leash; I take a heavily lenient approach towards issuing bans because of their long term detrimental effects. I value each member of the community here and I hesitate to take actions that would reduce the size of our already small community. I prefer finding solutions that help everyone get along and solve issues together rather than solutions that push people out entirely, and I hope that you've felt the effects of this mindset through my interactions with you.
The better course of action in these instances would have been to avoid involving myself in cases that were about him, as introducing a conflict of interest into the equation is something that I should not have been doing. I personally feel that I was objective when it came to my own investigation, but I understand that biases aren't felt from a first person perspective. From here out I'll also avoid involving myself in situations that could potentially involve conflicts of interest.
Thanks for reading.