Hi all,
A recent post from thendil has prompted an official staff response on the matter. First, I would like to address the claims made on his part, and then provide context to the matter.
Addressing some claims
It was made clear to all devs and the community that the development role is a separate track from the mod/trial mod branch of staff, and that like mods, they take direction from the admins and technicians. Developers were added to the upper management discord to minimize channels in the already busy staff discord, however at no point was it stated that developers are alongside admins in terms of . Due to confusions stemming from the discord server developers have been situated in, we will be moving them to the regular staff discord.
Investigation into Thendil’s misuse of their position(s)
Now, the source of this post stems from the following investigation that occurred over the past few days. On March 24th, Vikron began an investigation into Thendil’s unauthorized use of worldedit in HelloClan City. He then made the decision to temp ban pending investigation. There were 248 instances of worldedit commands between January 20th and January 24th. One event on the 23rd involved him worldediting greenfort, crashing the server and requiring admin intervention to rollback the area.
A side investigation was started into the development of Thendil’s super-highway. A vote was considered on whether to keep the highway, downsize the highway, or redo all gov highways to fit a new standard. This preliminary vote pending investigation was not considered after the investigation completed. Additionally, portions of the highway were removed, but restored pending investigation. It was determined that last year, Thendil sought approval from Satan to construct his highway with government recognition. It is important to note that the official procedure for gaining approval to build a highway protected by the government and funded by the government requires the completion of a form linked in the official forum post. This procedure was not followed. Once Satan resigned, Thendil failed to communicate with any other upper management staff who were otherwise unaware, and continued to develop the highway and claim land by the government to continue his development.
Outcomes of Investigation
Highway Investigation
Because this falls into a gray area, the decision has been made to enforce the highway guidelines. The highway must go through the official approval procedure to maintain government protection. The highway will not be modified by staff at this time, but may be subject to enforcement if the correct procedures are not followed.
Misuse of Developer Role Investigation
The reality is that developers are not free to use any command whenever they please, regardless of reason. Developers have worldedit to use on a case by case approval basis. It is meant to assist in events, and work directed and approved by an admin or technician. Although thendil resigned before the investigation completed, the official stance of the staff team is that he has been demoted due to his flagrant misuse of permissions. Thendil has also been removed from all official government positions. Thendil is welcome to contact an admin to request evidence, however we will not be sharing it here, as no ban is being made at this time.