Wargamer.com sob story on Boardgamegeek

[DicedT]

I don't usually get involved in the Wargamer.com soap opera, but this thread on BGG caught my eye. It sounds like there's something wrong with Curtis Szmania: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/878171/wargamer-com-the-long-farewell

[Staggerwing]

Man, those guys are harsh...

[undercovergeek]

i assumed everyone was maintaining a diplomatic silence

[Gusington]

Isn't Michael Dorosh a fruity nutcake himself?

[undercovergeek]

its been the subject of great debate but i think it pales in the shadow of the 'grand opus'

[Jarhead0331]

Oh My God...this is friggin seriously creepy...Dorosh pieced this together.

    Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Workers, Frontkämpfer, National-Socialists, and The German People:

    With much sadness, I regretfully announce that I am no longer the Führer of Greater Germany. First, I would like to start off by thanking those who gave me the opportunity to lead this great community, and that would be the People of Greater Germany and the European community. Now, I will go into detail about all the different facets of this job, what we have accomplished together and the amazing people I was able to get to know; and, hopefully, was able to change their lives for the better.

    Soldiers, Workers and Members of The European Community:
    I have worked for the Greater German community for the last twelve years as Führer, and I have used everything that was in me. I initially came on in early January of 1933. The situation seemed hopeless, the country was unorganized and its spirit was broken. Just prior to this, a reasonable size of its population had been split to other competitor nations (which will remain nameless, although I will mention one whose name does begin with a "F" and it was founded in July of 1789) after November of 1918. This competitor had an army with a aggressive invasion plan, which initiated that transition in our foreign policy. I stepped in during this time and, outside of my job description, reorganized the whole nation and clarified its goals all while maintaining order and quelling any undesirable behavior that sprang up. This was for the benefit of the community, to maintain morale and to banish those who were set to ruin what was already fragile. I also instated medals and insignia for our soldiers so they could post proudly with their achievements. Upon taking this position I immediately founded the Wehrmacht, which significantly lifted spirits within the community. The national focus was Greater Germany's weakest link, and this was where I spent most of my attention, as I knew that foreign help wasn't to arrive for several months (perhaps a year or more).

    Government:
    The bureacratic team I received upon taking this position was barely ten strong. When I left I had swelled it to nearly fifty, skills spanning the spectrum of the political niche and spanning the globe. During this time I had given many career bureaucrats an opportunity to shine, approached them personally when their skills stood out amongst others for a chance to work for The Führer. I then drafted guidelines and implemented the Battleplan, where writers could see all of the countries available for conquest and assignments available within a private staff section of the Reichschancellery. I then was able to increase the rate of advance from a mediocre five kilometres a week to a resounding 20-25 kilometres a day. These advances weren't just focused on the nations on our borders either, these spanned into the medium, long and extended range plans I wrote of in Mein Kampf. I also initiated new police types; some where the community was able to get involved answering questions about an upcoming round-up (community interview/community AAR). The ideas were endless, and the achievements were great. The invasion schedule was now set and all was working more efficiently than ever before. Deadlines were adhered-to and invasions were planned months in advance. During all of this, I was also taking measures to fix the battle plans that had been published with incorrect completion estimates.

    Developers and Designers:
    I reached out to developers and designers at an unprecedented level. Bringing them together within our community answering our questions, sponsoring our military and providing armaments for those who liked our Nuremburg laws. I was able to do this not only in person, but also by trading witticisms at Party rallies. I was giving great opportunities to even the smallest of allies, showing them the light of day. My greatest achievement, though, must have been seeking alliances for a community in disrepair. The allies you see now, greatly contrasting with those we've gotten accustomed to over the last decade of our legacy alliances, were initiated and negotiated by myself to bring money in to repair the bomb damage; among other things.

    But all of this was to no avail as it would seem that in the end, jealousy and envy would prevail. These envious weren't just the closest of colleagues, as I had been stepping on some toes working outside of my job description (artist), they were also from the enemies of the State. These colleagues, one who happened to be fonder of hanging out at Luftwaffe Headquarters, had secretly made a coalition with the envious management of our enemies. From there on, they were secretly planning my demise. This was because I was a threat to their very survival.

    All of this had come to fruition just last week as this covert group sent messages to Allied High Command of stories about me using disciplinary action within the Führerbunker as this group attempted to destroy what little was left of morale and hope of the German community. This secret group, having already given up on Greater Germany, was out to crush the little and fragile community I was attempting to rebuild as they now already had a place of their own (which was suffering by the work I was doing here). At the Führerbunker I was creating a new foundation (out of necessity). This was becoming a nation from which we could all be proud of once again, with dignity and dedicated leadership of unrelenting morale.

    Because of these envious I was forced to resign, against my will. In doing so, I feel I have done a great dishonor to the Greater German community, letting them down and fleeing the battlefield during its climax. The last thing I would have wanted was to let the German community down at this very moment, after twelve years of hard work and dedication to rebuild its integrity and to fix something that was once broken. This was a time where leadership was crucial, but unfortunately it has come to an end.

    It was an honor for me to serve as your Führer, against insurmountable odds and the envious. I had stood with you on the field of battle, to honor and defend a community nearly two decades old, against those whose interests were only to destroy it. Because of this, it's not me I am worried about; it is you. And it will always be you. Without you, there would have been no reason for me to have done what I have done here over these last twelve years. This is why I can never return, nor will I remain a part of this community. The pain and the sadness are just too great for me to continue to be a part of something that I have worked so hard to improve.

    In the future you may have to refer to a resume on occasion, but this won't be a resume of merely words on a piece of paper, it will be the German Reich.

    So I ask, at this very moment, not for you to inquire about where I'm going, reply or even bid me farewell. I only ask for your silence and your remembrance in the following weeks of what I've been able to give you.

    Take up the sword from where I have left off, and defend the Greater German Reich to the last; because if Greater Germany falls, a part of each and every one of us will also perish.


    Farewell, and never stop defending our beliefs.

    -A.H.
    Führer u. Reichskanzler

...and our friend Curtis...

Quote from: Szmania

    Writers, Publishers, Developers, Designers, Moderators, Colleagues, Forum Members, and The Wargamer Community:

    With much sadness, I regretfully announce that I am no longer the Editor-in-Chief of The Wargamer. First, I would like to start off by thanking those who gave me the opportunity to lead this great community, and that would be JD McNeil (CEO of Matrix Games / Slitherine) and The Wargamer community. Now, I will go into detail about all the different facets of this job, what we have accomplished together and the amazing people I was able to get to know; and, hopefully, was able to change their lives for the better.

    Forum Members, Moderators and Members of The Wargamer Community:
    I have worked for The Wargamer community for the last six months as Editor-in-Chief, and I have used everything that was in me. I initially came on in early May of 2012. The situation seemed hopeless, the forum was unorganized and its software was broken. Just prior to this, a reasonable size of its population had migrated to another competitor wargaming online publication (which will remain nameless, although I will mention that its name does begin with a "G" and it was founded in February of 2012) in February-April of that year. This competitor had a site with a working forum, which initiated that transition in our membership. I stepped in during this time and, outside of my job description, reorganized the whole forum and clarified its rules all while maintaining order and quelling any trollish behavior that sprang up. This was for the benefit of the community, to maintain morale and to banish those who were set to ruin what was already fragile. I also instated medals and insignia for our forum members so they could post proudly with their achievements in their signatures. Upon taking this position I immediately founded The Wargamer's Tournament, which significantly lifted spirits within the community. The forum was The Wargamer's weakest link, and this was where I spent most of my attention, as I knew that programmer help wasn't to arrive for several months (perhaps a year or more).

    Writers:
    The writer team I received upon taking this position was barely ten strong. When I left I had swelled it to nearly fifty, skills spanning the spectrum of the wargaming niche and spanning the globe. During this time I had given many writers an opportunity to shine, approached them personally when their skills stood out amongst others for a chance to write for The Wargamer. I then drafted a writer's guidelines and implemented the "Battleplan", where writers could see all of the products available for review and assignments available within a private staff section of the forums. I then was able to increase the rate of publication from a mediocre five articles a month to a resounding 20-25 articles a month. These articles weren't just focused on the products published by our mother company (Matrix Games / Slitherine) either, these spanned into the board, mobile and miniature wargaming platforms. I also initiated new article types; some where the community was able to get involved asking questions about an upcoming product (community interview/community AAR). The ideas were endless, and the achievements were great. The editorial schedule was now set and all was working more efficiently than ever before. Deadlines were adhered-to and editorial themes were planned months in advance.  During all of this, I was also taking measures to fix the articles that had been published with incorrect authors.

    Publishers, Developers and Designers:
    I reached out to publishers, developers and designers at an unprecedented level. Bringing them together within our community (Ask Forums) answering our questions, sponsoring our tournaments and providing discounts for those who liked our Facebook page.  I was able to do this not only in person, but also by trading business cards at gaming conventions. I was giving great opportunities to even the smallest of companies, showing them the light of day. My greatest financial achievement, though, must have been seeking advertising revenue for a community in disrepair. The advertisements you see now, greatly contrasting with those we've gotten accustomed to over the last decade of our mother company's, were initiated and negotiated by myself to bring money in to repair the forum software; among other things. These were multi-thousand dollar deals.
    But all of this was to no avail as it would seem that in the end, jealousy and envy would prevail. These envious weren't just the closest of colleagues, as I had been stepping on some toes working outside of my job description (advertising), they were also from the competition. These colleagues, one who happened to be fonder of hanging out over at a competitor online wargaming publication (as mentioned previously above), had secretly made a coalition with the envious management of that very competitor online wargaming publication. From there on, they were secretly planning my demise. This was because I was a threat to their very survival, their advancement within the wargaming industry.

    All of this had come to fruition just last Sunday evening as this covert group sent emails to upper management at Matrix Games / Slitherine of stories about me using disciplinary action within the forums as this group attempted to destroy what little was left of morale and hope of The Wargamer community. This "secret" group, having already given up on The Wargamer, was out to crush the little and fragile community I was attempting to rebuild as they now already had a place of their own (which was suffering by the work I was doing here). At The Wargamer I was creating a new foundation (out of necessity). This was becoming a wargaming website from which we could all be proud of once again, with dignity and dedicated leadership of unrelenting morale.

    Because of these envious I was forced to resign, against my will. In doing so, I feel I have done a great dishonor to The Wargamer community, letting them down and fleeing the battlefield during its climax. The last thing I would have wanted was to let The Wargamer community down at this very moment, after six months of hard work and dedication to rebuild its integrity and to fix something that was once broken. This was a time where leadership was crucial, but unfortunately it has come to an end.
    It was an honor for me to serve as your Editor-in-Chief, against insurmountable odds and the envious. I had stood with you on the field of battle, to honor and defend a community nearly two decades old, against those whose interests were only to destroy it. Because of this, it's not me I am worried about; it is you. And it will always be you. Without you, there would have been no reason for me to have done what I have done here over these last six months. This is why I can never return, nor will I remain a part of this community. The pain and the sadness are just too great for me to continue to be a part of something that I have worked so hard to improve.

    In the future I may have to refer to a resume on occasion, but this won't be a resume of merely words on a piece of paper, it will be.

    So I ask, at this very moment, not for you to inquire about where I'm going, reply or even bid me farewell. I only ask for your silence and your remembrance in the following weeks of what I've been able to give you.
     
    Take up the sword from where I have left off, and defend The Wargamer to the last; because if The Wargamer falls, a part of each and every one of us will also perish.

    Farewell, and never stop wargaming.

    -Curtis Szmania
    Former Editor-in-Chief of The Wargamer

[Gusington]

That is f'd up.

[Steelgrave]

Makes me wonder if Curtis has little swastika's on his undies.  :-X

[Yskonyn]

I had been wondering what happened over at WG.com for quite a while now.
The pieces of the puzzle start to make sense now... Weird stuff.

[Tuna]

I never thought any of Doresh's posts that I've seen were that bad.. He never seemed to be attacking anyone in his posts.. He just seemed to be hated because he didn't have a love affair with a certain game.

[mirth]

Isn't Michael Dorosh a fruity nutcake himself?

You aren't the first person on the intrawebs to observe that.

[LongBlade]

For what it's worth, GrogHeads had nothing to do with Curtis' departure.

I had heard rumors things weren't going well over there, but our site had no role in that.

On a personal level I am saddened he is gone. I never like to hear when someone loses his job.

As for Dorosh - I have no comment.

[Zulu1966]

That is f'd up.

It is of course not a speech Hitler ever made. Just that guys attempt at humour. I have seen funnier things

[Al]

I thought the articles, reviews, aar's and other content at wargamer.com had improved since Curt had taken over - so in that sense I'm sorry to see him go.  I thought the forums award thing was a little odd - but basically harmless.  The forums had some intersting types to say the least.  One in particular has some serious anger management issues and many other posters were just infantile - so I didn't frequent the forums very often.

Hope they can weather yet another storm.

[Con]

I never thought any of Doresh's posts that I've seen were that bad.. He never seemed to be attacking anyone in his posts.. He just seemed to be hated because he didn't have a love affair with a certain game.

I actually found his basic core argument quite lucid. What was disturbing was his fanaticism and unhealthy obsession on trotting out those arguments every time combat mission was mentioned in any forum, review, political attack ad, carved into a tree trunk etc you name it.

As for Curtis I read the piece posted by jarhead and not knowing the guy I would have said its a great piece of editorial satire worthy of the Onion. For those of you who know him do you think this essay really reflects his personality?

Con