Earlier this month I gave  Martin my 4 weeks notice. As both the moderator team and myself have opted to leave GFX in one capacity or another and no longer continue with the upkeep of this site.

I cannot put words into the mouths of  Raphael and  MePhIstoZoR, however we do share some similar dissatisfaction with the site, it’s founders, and yes a few members that lead us to believe it’s not worth spending hours voluntarily deleting spam, solving petty feuds, double posts and abuse from select members that have absolutely no clue how lucky they are to have the voice they can w/o repercussions unlike most other (online) communities.

Personally, I have my career and families’ well being to consider, as I am about to end 8 years of military service and must focus on real life priorities. That’s my MAIN reason. I’ve also stepped down as admin of 2 other communities I’m a part of.

But there are other reasons as well.

It seems some members like GFX’s own  kittyKat can continually mouth off to admins/mods, blatantly disregard requests to cease harassment of members, and be allowed back into the community without even saying ‘sorry.’

If you go over years of threads, it’s been agreed upon that publishing artwork, critiques, and yes even votes are what makes a ‘good/active’ member. Spamming SayWhat with YouTube links, creating the occasional contest adds humor, but not much else.

When I created forums to help the community redefined the category definitions she only posted pessimism and no constructive comments to help at all.

So I don’t want to hear about how much she does for the community, as she gives comment, not critiques, nor upload artwork to the gallery. 2 things this site is lacking dearly, which is a shame since she is a very talented artist.

I had not allowed her back….Martin did. All of this without ANY communication between myself and Martin. He asked me once how I wish it to be handled. I told him to have her apologize would be enough

She never did.

To spite us even more she posts links to Eminem’s ‘Without Me’ video. Simply childish.

Here’s a quote from Martin from last year:

_quote:

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 Martin wrote
"Very recently several members have lost access to this site due to blatant disrespect for the community moderators and myself.
Just now I have suspended an account of yet another person who made some quite nice art, and had a good relationship with the people here, but refused to act reasonable on requests of mods and admins.

I want to stress that I am behind the community moderators 100%. If you happen to disagree with a guideline or the way it is enforced, take it up with me, before you decide to treat the moderator in question like a clueless nobody. The second you go there, I have no problem removing you from this site. The job is hard enough as it is*.

Bottom line, giving a moderator attitude, is a one way ticket out of here. If anyone is going to tell the moderator he or she is wrong, it is me. If you are fed up with how we handle things, pack your bags and leave, it was bound to happen some time. I'd much rather give you a friendly goodbye than kicking you out for throwing a scene.

While many members sympathize with those who have lost access to this site over a moderation dispute, you must know that they where all aware that they pushed the situation beyond what is reasonable. We give you chance to prove us wrong, but if you start slapping us in the face, we stick to the decision and you can either take it or leave. Read the guidelines, know when you're on thin ice and accept your fate when we act on it. If you don't want the hassle, don't walk the fine line."

• Martin Kool

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Very Hypocritical as our decision was overruled…and not even a courtesy message was sent to do so.

But that’s only a SMALL facet of it all.
====================================

Martin and the founders are the reason we are leaving. Plain and simple.

I have good evidence of member using up to 4 accounts to inflate their vote scores…and they have been nominated for elite already multiple times. Martin doesn’t even return my message to help confirm this. I’m sure she will get her shiny icon soon enough.

Before I was made admin, we heard from Martin on average once every 3 or 4 months. As admin, maybe 2 times….not even a ‘got your email, sorry I’m busy.’ Nothing.

My appointment as Admin was a mistake. Not b/c of me, I’ll stand by every decision I made…but because it enabled the founders more slack in not having to pay attention to what was going on. As long as I was around, they didn’t have to be around at all.

They won’t even honor a simple request to create/modify subcategories.
I don’t have time/energy/patience for an absentee landlord w/o any support for his teams decisions.

My appointment as admin was not to facilitate a turnaround on this site, but to take it off their hands. If that’s not the truth, well…they haven’t been around much to prove otherwise.

====================================

The fact that Martin has known I was going to post this weeks ago and hasn’t even emailed me back or said anything on the site looking for replacements is proof enough.

There are plenty of people who feel they could have done a better job. They are more than welcomed to try. You can reach Martin through the BrothersInArt.com site…lol maybe.

I myself am deleting…not unpublishing…but deleting my gallery and bidding this place farewell. My last admin act is going to see if I can ban myself so as I’m not tempted in the slightest to come back and work.

Overall I’m happy with what this mod team pulled off. The guidelines are clear, the category definitions don’t invite (much) debate….those were the source of a lot of the arguing on the site. The fact that only a few even posted a reaction on the forum threads saying they were done shows that either you guys don’t care, or they were done well enough.

If you wish to contact me, you’re more than welcome to…pm  Wysi as I’ll check it for a few days before moving on to give you email/YIM or whatever you want.

It was by no means a total waste. I met some AWESOME and talented people…but 4 years is enough.

But should also be said I am grateful to the founders for the opportunity to help revitalize the community, however...it can't be done w/o a support structure from those who have access to the servers and a constant link to the founders.

Best of luck to all you in your creative endeavors, and the art net is small enough I’m sure we’ll see each other again. I might start hanging around ConceptArt as I’ve been doing more sketching lately.

For the next crew...there's 3 'pin boards' of info for you to learn from. Mods of the past edit out their posts in fear of reprisal. Mine is all there, as I'm not touching it.

Take care,
Brett aka Wysiwyg



In memory RIP ...

Title Member Added on Searching Passenger 01/03/07 Dynamic ThruMyEyez 12/11/06 p a p a r a z z i tetbautista 09/10/06 And now you know the actual... stieven 08/19/06 Toronto Shootings mjkingz 06/08/06 Madieke JeeCie 03/28/06 Spirit thief Northman 03/11/06 My Pet martinrebas 03/02/06 Bonnie & Bonny Andy--Jones 02/28/06 Breaking The Rules I-Robot 02/23/06 Black for a Month glimmerman 02/21/06 Needle DROP GrandStilov 01/21/06 We Love Jesus - partial nudity... Andy--Jones 01/16/06 Knight Magua 12/06/05 The World eowyn 11/29/05 Fantacy wanhsienwei 11/26/05 The Man Who Unleashed Hell MrBook 10/10/05 my ancient town icelog 10/10/05 Fall romance toobi 09/22/05 First love toobi 09/02/05 Have a break digitalhadz 08/19/05 Pamela's little angel Diane 07/30/05 I need more blood mirko-chan 07/29/05 Speak none nnyish 07/16/05 Fooxoo Fairy Diane 07/03/05 .queen.of.the.eternity. noah-kh 06/28/05 Crystal Glasses eowyn 06/22/05 Village kvasovarov 06/03/05 Rain Globe drdab99 04/01/05 ME in VECTORS shyamshriram 03/23/05 Sun and Steel Mozsi 01/13/05 Love/Pool/Family/Chair eremita 01/11/05 Nightwatch greyfin 10/18/04 .bride.of.lucifer. noah-kh 10/08/04 Shine keiiii 09/30/04 Reach for the Stars Ketchup-Suicide 09/22/04 Escher's dream greyfin 09/22/04 A Soldier's Heart stephaniels 09/08/04 paint me! illustmaster 09/02/04 Angel chain 09/02/04 Zi Doll Aleksi 08/28/04 Restrictions chain 08/13/04 Becoming Kenshin iizzard 06/09/04 spyrotek dekonstrukt spyroteknik 04/28/04