04-28-2025, 12:25 PMAlaska Wrote: I think a valuable step in this process would be to acknowledge how Waters feels, something that has not happened at all.

HO can believe that they were justified, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve put Waters in a completely garbage position, and his feelings on the matter are completely justified. Acknowledging that would be helpful, given the very real feelings of people involved. We’re not all usernames on a page, there’s a real person behind the username and there’s one that’s feeling some very real and very understandable anger and hurt

This is entirely fair. I am sorry for any hurt this has caused Waters. I doubt he wants to hear an apology from me at this point, but yes, I am sorry that this has caused anyone hurt. I am sorry that sim sports ever causes anybody actual stress or hurt, myself included. That is never the intent with this kind of thing. You and I, Alaska, discussed at length recently how unfair it is that the standing co "always" gets hired. You expressed to me (respectfully and in a constructive manner) that it wasn't fair to do that, that other people outside the team should have the chance to apply for those positions. That's actually criticism that I thought was entirely valid, and I'm certainly not saying that was why we made this decision, but it was something I took to heart and reflected on as we've made a lot of hirings recently.

We do want to consider and respond to criticism. I have been doing that so, so much lately, whether it's been responding to people about the crasher/FA thing, this hiring, expansion rules, etc. When people are hostile and cruel with their criticisms, though, it makes it hard for us to focus on the actual feedback. We try to, but we are also only human, and when we are repeatedly not just critiqued for our decisions but for being "lazy" or "control freaks" or "untrustworthy" that is just not going to lead to a productive dialogue. Because we are real people too, you know?