I want to try and get more into what I think about the change. I'm trying not to think of this emotionally, but I hope to help you understand where most of us are coming from.
SilentGuns mentioned he's been admin 10 years. I've been admin for 7 years, to this day. Many more have been admin longer. Obviously SG doesn't play as big of a role in our lives as it did five to ten years ago. But it seems jarring. There are lots of questions that swirled around my mind: "Do you not trust us to execute our job?", "Are they worried we're taking up room that could be used for SAs?" etc.
I know to a lot of members, I will sound entitled. But I just want everyone to understand that SG itself has genuinely been a part of my life for 9 years and for many more, it's been a part of their lives for longer.
Due to this, think I feel what a lot of others on this list feel; a mix of betrayal, anger, and understanding. There was a huge disparity between Legends to begin with in terms of 'accomplishments'. Hell, I'm one of the few who never actually made it past CA. But I know I worked my ass off in that brief time and really contributed to the PB community. SilentGuns was the unwavering pillar holding up our continuous attempts at Minecraft. Veggie was the admin who taught me how to play PB. ExRev was the first damn person I met and we held that PB community together like glue.
I don't want to put words in people's mouths, but I think everyone on this list genuinely believes that they deserve, at the very least, admin powers. It's hard to judge people off of their rank. I know I contributed more to in-server culture and fulfilling signature requests than I did "big picture" things or posting on the forums. And it's hard to come to terms with the fact that a small group of people - many whom some of us have never played with - have judged our contribution' to the community in a fair, holistic manner. I don't want to attack anyone's judgement - that's rude and unfair. I can only imagine how difficult it is to judge about a hundred players from many different eras based off of their achievements years ago. I just want to try and express how I genuinely feel. This makes it seem like the past 7 years of administrating the servers was all for naught.
Where I see a huge issue is that a majority of the new Vets/HGs who have been demoted are still relatively active. No we don't play every week anymore - but when we do play, we still uphold the integrity and respect of the admin position. And that is what hurts the most. You're telling us that after all our hard-work and my past 4 years of being a Legend that, suddenly, we don't deserve it anymore.
I think there are better ways to differentiate the individuals in those lists. There are some names: bethy, TCP, Haggard, Spraytan, etc. that are so essential to SG's history, you could put them in an SG Hall of Fame. They can keep their higher admin powers; they've earned lifetime achievements. That should not detract from the Veterans' contributions though. No, I did not found SG. Nor, was I President of SG. But yes, I made a difference, if not to SG, then to the individuals in our servers and I feel let down that all I get from that is some funny purple text.
I appreciate the recognition of being a Veteran and I'm proud of everything I've done for the community. I respect the time you've put into this decision and hate to be the one to argue it. But I firmly believe that we have earned your trust and respect to uphold the rules and integrity of SG.
Thanks for reading this all if you did. This isn't as life-changing as it seems - I'm just feeling a lot of different emotions right now.
Appreciate all you hard work
at least I still have an emoji
