Hey guys, Hydrooo here.

I will be leaving the mod team for SR4. I'll explain why in a bit.

Just 3 weeks ago, I announced that I would discontinue running the game, and I was contemplating leaving the team. For the past 19 days, I've been secretly keeping an eye on the verification rate, and, suffice to say, they've picked up their slack.

Now comes my explanation.

I feel as though I've been well, mistreated, so to speak. Not by the community, but by other mods and the Owner.

After we as a mod team fucked up, and let pending runs reach a cap of 120+, both IvoryBeats and I verified them all. Since that day, I and RelievedLiberty verified over 100 runs that following week (Majority done by myself. No hard feelings towards Relieved, I appreciate your help :))

Zoom, disregard this next piece as I also have no hard feelings towards you.

Ivory and 404, I am NOT attacking your personality, but I will attack your moderation and ownership abilities and/or practices.

Ivory: Although you have agreed with me that 404 should not be the leader of the community, I feel so disrespected and disregarded due to your lack of respect towards my moderation. I'd like to note that the ONLY time the pending runs went into double digits when I was verifying was while I was asleep, or at school whereas you let it pile up above 20 quite a few times in the past 19 days. Sure, we have things going on in our lives that we cannot help, but when I see you active on Discord, and TELLING me that you needed to verify, yet didn't, it shows a clear lack of responsibility and a lack of dedication towards moderating this game. We are a fairly actively ran game, and verifying is so... so easy, that it's quite sad when I don't see it happen. Just promise me that you'll never let it go above 50.

Now, time for the big one... 404:
You are so unfit to be the owner of the server. You NEVER engage with the community, you NEVER check in with the moderation. You NEVER help verify. The only times that you show up is DAYS upon DAYS after we ping you several times. And half the time, even that doesn't even work. You may have been fit when Zoom gave you ownership, but you clearly do not fit anymore. I even TOLD you I was a bad fit for the mod team because I was not verifying runs. I BLATANTLY TOLD YOU. Yet your response was that you were going to keep me on the team because I was honest. What kind of owner does that? It's not about honesty, or what you believe in, it's about work ethic and dedication. Just because you may like them as a person does not mean that you should put them in front of those who do the work. Those people who actually support the team, instead of lazily sitting around and riding on the back of the true workers. A good owner would get engaged with the community, make frequent announcements, chat with the people of the server, and acknowledge their existence even. The speedrunning scene for this game has went through so many changes, and you left us, the moderators, to make those changes known. THAT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. To make sure the COMMUNITY KNOWS about changes that affect the COMMUNITY. It is ALL about community when you're the owner. No one knows anybody now that you're in charge. No one is a member of the community anymore. We're just members of a dis-functional discord server. A discord server that when we got raided, you did NOTHING. You don't really care, and it shows.

That is all.

Goodbye.

It's sad to see one of the oldest community members leave us, but the reasoning is completely understandable and I agree with the points you've outlined in this post.
Running a server, a game, a COMMUNITY, is difficult at times, especially when things are going on in your life, which is what made Zoom pass on his leadership. However, it is abundantly clear that 404 cannot maintain suitable activity and interaction with us, and therefore should give his role to someone who deserves it. I'm not going to suggest who should be given the role as I don't want to promote certain people and leave out others.
Over time, the scene for this game has changed. In Hydro's own words, Soulcloset (Tay) ran this community like a family. We all felt as if we were a part of something. When Zoom held ownership, it was like a massive friendship between us all, and again we were a part of a greater community. I don't see that anymore, and I really think that's because the leadership here has dropped off. Many of our staple runners and members from the past have since left, and our own leader and Discord owner cannot spend enough time speaking with us, or even connecting with us at all.
As for run verification, I would suggest that any runner who is active in speedrunning this game and frequently speaks in the Discord server should put themselves forward for a moderator position to help with the runs, because it is clear to me our current ones cannot find the time or are not prepared to do so. I have nothing against any of them, though.
To conclude, I genuinely hope this community reaches its former glory; not in terms of activity, but in terms of friendship and support. I feel like we haven't had that in a while and that needs to change. As for ownership, I'm not insulting 404 in any way, but I DO believe someone else needs to take over. Someone who speaks frequently with others and still has a passion for this game. That person has to guide our community if we are to reach satisfaction.
I wish you all the best, Hydro. I hope that someday you can look back on our community and we'll have put the changes in place that you wished to see in your time here.

Thank you for your time as moderator, Hydro.