Message From JD

Hello to Aeipathy members old and new! To those who already know me, hello again! To those who do not, it’s nice to meet you! I’m JD, the creator of this lovely site here. I hope you’re enjoying it!

For those who aren’t aware, I began and then ran Aeipathy for about two and a half years before stepping back from the site last October/November. Unfortunately, it was for that dreaded of all reasons - mental health. What I’m here to tell you now is that time has healed most wounds and I’ll be coming back to Aeipathy in the near future!

Before all that, however, there are a few elephants to be addressed...

The first, is the massive apology that the community deserves from me for the messiness of my exit. In a fit of incredibly low feelings, I essentially threw the logins and responsibilities at your current staff team and disappeared. I kept the site running and continued to pay for it etc. so that it didn’t close but I also did nothing to aid in the transition to the new staff team. This was incredibly wrong of me and I apologise sincerely to friends I was writing with and characters I was story-telling with. I’ve managed and redressed member leave-takings before as admin so I know how hard and frustrating sudden drops can be, so I can understand my parting causing a whole lot of issues and hurt feelings. I’m truly sorry for this.

On the back of this, I also need to say a huge thank you to the staff team for stepping up and being awesome! I’ve not been on the Discord server recently (or on Discord at all for that matter) so I don’t know exactly what’s happening but I can see enough on the site to know that people are writing, characters are being created and everyone is having a good time. Job well done as far as I’m concerned XD It’s amazing to have people on the forum who love it enough to keep it running and working even in the hard times. Thank you to the entirety of the staff team. You have my undying gratitude.

To confirm future plans for everyone... Under the knowledge that the manner of my departure will have severely dented my good favour with the community, I’m posting this message to let everyone know that I’ll be returning to the site on the 8th May. This gives members time to adjust to the idea, so that no-one is blindsided or surprised. It’ll also give me the time to look over the site and see where plots and stories are now at!

Despite the catch up I’m going to need to play, we have one significant silver lining from the last few months... For those newcomers who haven’t met me yet, I’m a bit of a force to be reckoned with. This is awesome when you’re trying to build up a site from scratch but not so helpful in making you approachable to members. I like to think I’m nice and do my best to reach out to any and all but sometimes that Admin title is a scary thing and members stay quiet if there are things they dislike. My leave-taking before Christmas has provided the unique opportunity of giving the members of Aeipathy a JD-free environment to be honest in their feedback on the site. Feedback that our current staff team seem to have taken on and used to make Aeipathy even better!

But don’t panic people! This isn’t like that time your best mate broke up with their boyfriend, you admitted they were a jerk and then they got back together (awkward!). This is truly a great opportunity for me to learn and be a better admin for the site and the community! As such, from the 8th May to the 10th July, I won’t be acting as a staffer on the site at all! Instead, I’ll be sitting back, playing the role of member, so that I can see and experience any changes that have been put into action in my absence. I have no plans to alter anything the staff team have done - I want to learn from them not reverse time! Come the 10th July, I’ll be reclaiming my spot as Head Admin on the site, but I imagine little will change. If the staff team are still eager to be a part of making Aeipathy great, they’ll be continuing exactly as they have been, with the tasks and projects they most enjoy! (If it ain’t broke, right?).

This is a lot of information to be dumping on people - especially newcomers who may not even know me yet! - so I’ll leave this with you guys for now! If anyone wants to reach out and get in touch, plan some stories or just say hi, I have Discord again now so you're always welcome! (JD#8827). I look forward to seeing you all on the 8th May! Have an awesome one!