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I am so impressed by the honesty and transparency of this site, it is a great place to be.

I'd also like to thank you for not firing Thrage. He clearly doesn't have the social skills to be an admin and work with the public; but that doesn't mean that he should be tossed out to starve in the street. I am actively worried now that people will stalk him and try to get him fired from any work he might do in the future.

His opinions are not on the site. He will not be interacting with anyone, and that should make it safe enough for anyone to feel comfortable communicating with the front end of the company.

I have been poor and out-of-work, I have also been called names and discriminated against. Out-of-work is worse by far. Enough is enough.

[quote name="Engel" date="2013-07-19 14:46:36" url="main.php?p=mb&board=ann&page=6&id=609580#610527"]"personal facebook" Exactly. Personal. It isn't work related, and it didn't get in the way of how he treated people on the site. Not a bit. [/quote] @Engel but until now, his facebook was public, and from what I heard. easy to find. One person in this thread even said that he apologized to them for the shock switch fiasco and then made that post on his FB, so ???

A midtone background for the puzzle game would be wonderful because there's a couple of puzzles that have white, or near white spots/pieces which makes trying to find where that remaining white piece goes, hard.
Especially when the spot is near the bottom of the puzzle, so I can drag the puzzle into the darker areas at the top to find it, because the open spot is still in the light area.

I don't really know how to feel on the whole situation.

Coding is incredibly difficult and you can't truly pass off something unfinished to other hands without disaster.

However I'd rather just see Thrage gone because his attitude has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Last night was just the icing on the cake (I'm cisgender, but I'm pansexual). It was disgusting, even if it was simply "personal opinion."

I do not envy the position the admin are in, but I hope they make the right choice in the long run.

I thank the admins for their inclusive, quick, and professional response.

I'll contribute my voice to the noise; though I am not photosensitive, I have eye and sight problems that can eventually lead to such a deterioration that I may be considered legally blind.
Video games, if played in moderation at a safe distance, tend only to cause me headaches or problems seeing within three or four hours of continuous play. Shock Switch triggered a massive headache for me in the beginning, and even left me momentarily disoriented/seeing double from the intensity of the effects.

(Note: Usually, flashing effects will not cause me pain unless I continue to be exposed to them- at a certain level of intensity- for AT LEAST fifteen minutes.)

That Thrage put up such a resistance to changing these aspects or accommodating epileptics is rather worrying- what's more worrying is that he'll continue be coding games for this site; still have the potential to hurt people and laugh it off.

I understand the decision to keep him on staff even as a back-end coder was not one easily made, and I will respect it. I am disappointed, however, that it seems to be going back on his word.

Here's hoping that Thrage takes this as a learning experience and matures over his leave of absence and return.

Please keep in mind folks that, as far as I'm aware, Thrage created the coding for the games. They are in a way, his.

They can't actually completely fire him without first buying him out. There are some technical/legal issues that would first need to be worked out.

Which is why I suspect one, if not the main reason why, he'll still be doing coding in the back.

To be honest, I think they all handled the situation appropriately. Thrage stepping down, the others taking his admin status away but still leaving him as a worker.
I don't know what posts Thrage made, but I do know the gist. While I don't agree with, and don't appreciate his comments, I think, while it shows flaws in his character, is not something to condemn him for. This is HIS personal Facebook, and means it's room for HIM to say his opinions. I'm sure thousands of other people might have the same opinion. And might say it publicly. And while I think that these kind of comments are offensive, mean, rude, and disrespectful, it's their opinion, and if we give him too much hate for his opinion, aren't we being just as disrespectful?

The photosensitive people are very unfortunate indeed and I personally strongly disagree with Thrage's reactions. However, at the same time, I believe that everyone's uproar is also unfair. I may not be photosensitive, but I do have many other physical disorders. While I may be offended by someone saying rude comments about these things, I wouldn't hate them and condemn them for expressing their own opinion.

However: As an admin, one who openly expresses rude opinions towards a specific group of people who have personally done nothing wrong, I think it was appropriate for Thrage's position to be removed. It was the best course of action. While Thrage is still an active worker for the site, he's no longer a personality, a voice in the decision-making, or a face seen by the community. An administrator should be someone who does not let their feelings get in the way of their work, who does not openly express rudeness, and does not offend anyone. Which is why I think keeping Thrage as a worker, yet not an administrator is a perfectly fine thing to do.

Also, message to the community: Remember that everything can't be for everyone. Sure, it's unfair that epileptic people can't play the same fairgrounds games. But then again, neither can quadriplegics. And most can't type either, so they don't even get a voice in the matter. Neither can the homeless people, with hardly enough to survive let alone afford a computer or internet. Chances are that by now, you've experienced enough in this world to realize that it's unfair. Sure, it sucks, and it'd be nice if it weren't this way, but it is. You can't do anything about it. Neither can I, or anyone. I'm not saying for you to just suck it up, I'm saying that before you blow up about something, think about it rationally. You have a house. You have all your limbs. You have at least a mostly functioning body. And you have a computer. And internet. And access to games. And food. And money. If you, like many others, including me, have issues with your body, and can't enjoy ALL the same things that a rich, fully healthy, billionaire can, don't expect everything to be all fair. Life sucks, and frankly, blowing up over one of the admins of a game you play's expression of his own opinion on his PERSONAL Facebook is not going to change anything. You know what you create? More chaos. More disorder. More hate. More anger. More rude things. I think this was entirely appropriate. Thrage should not lose the job he worked so many years worth of sweat and blood and tears for just for stating his opinion. Sure, his flaws in his character are offensive and not necessarily nice, and certainly may not be all that suitable for administrative work, but that should NOT condemn him so far that he loses his job.

TL:DR= The reaction from the other admins and Thrage were all optimal, as well as appropriate. While his character does not suit Administrative work, expressing oneself's opinion on their own personal FB shouldd not take away his job. The response was well done. Also, remember that life can't be absolutely fair, and keep in mind that blowing up over one person's opinion of a particular group of people does NOT HELP the matter at hand.