So long, and thanks for all the fish

Discussion in 'Staff Goodbyes' started by TnT, Aug 21, 2014.

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    TnT

    With a heavy heart, I must say goodbye to Bukkit. Bukkit has been a huge part of my life for the past 3 and a half years, and one chapter I am sad to close. My start with Bukkit was as a regular community member seeking out a server mod to use to replace hMod, so I could run my own small private server (I think all I wanted was Teleportation at the time, which hMod allowed). This evolved into writing tutorials on running a CraftBukkit server (as there were very few at the time), and spending countless hours in Bukkit Help spreading my knowledge to those Server Admins who needed support getting their server running, or diagnosing their problems. Bukkit Help became my personal stomping ground as I became intimately aware of all changes going on with CraftBukkit from a Server Admin point of view. Those interactions led me to want to take a more active role in assisting the community, eventually leading up to being approached by EvilSeph to take on a moderator role.

    Fast forward a year, and I can proudly call all the Bukkit Staff, including EvilSeph, friends. When Mojang hired the original team, the question was posed about who should be project lead should EvilSeph step down, as a succession plan is very important to sustaining any project, Bukkit included. The question was put to a vote, and my name was presented as the candidate of choice. I’ll admit, this completely blew me away, but I was honored to be chosen. Luckily, EvilSeph continued to remain on as the primary lead of the project, while I proceeded to handle the day to day tasks. Bukkit Help matured along with the project, requiring less personal attention, so I branched out into every aspect of Bukkit, with the exception of handling any development (I think I made a javadoc update once though). I am proud to say I had a hand in creating the PR Handling process, managing BukkitDev, managing forum staff and making sure I was available in every aspect of the project - from helping to write our announcements, to bringing on new staff members when needed and so much more.

    What is often misunderstood about Bukkit was how the organization was ran. There has never been a decision made that was not made via a committee. There has always been a group consensus on all aspects - from handling BukkitDev approvals to forum rules and finally, yes, shutting down the project. This was truly a community run project. The core team was all formed from the existing community. The forum staff was all made up of community members. BukkitDev approvals were all handled by community members. Volunteers ran the project in every aspect, and as a team, we decided how to best proceed with decisions. As for Mojang’s involvement, not once in my time as a Bukkit Administrator did I hear from Mojang, or felt I could reach out to them for assistance when required and it came as a complete surprise that Mojang was willing to step up and help out. In the over two years that Mojang has claimed to own Bukkit, the original core developers hired by Mojang and Mojang itself was not present when we needed them most with the exception of EvilSeph himself continuing to pour countless hours into the project, at risk to his own personal health. Perhaps Bukkit wouldn’t have been shut down, or had such a difficult time maintaining the project had we known we could work closer with Mojang, as well as avoiding this whole EULA confusion.

    The decision to keep the acquisition of the Bukkit codebase a secret was made between Mojang and Curse, which only recently came to light. I was completely unaware that I had spent the last two years of my life as a Bukkit Administrator, and successor to the project lead, under the illusion that the project was independently ran. Had I known back then perhaps my choice would have been different, perhaps not. It’s easy to speculate on what might have been, but unless faced head on with the choice, the decision is not always clear.

    What I do know is the recent events has not changed the inevitable decision I have came to today, and its one that has been long coming. I am now the proud father of a beautiful 4 month old baby girl, who lights up my life, while also consuming my free time. I no longer have the countless evenings and weekends available to spend working on new processes, smoothing out issues, and responding to forum posts. I hung on this long only because I couldn’t leave knowing the project was hurting for volunteers, and I couldn’t just walk away given the current state. Bukkit has grown to be an extremely large project, and is incredibly time consuming to manage. I felt that I was abandoning the community of which I have grown so fond, as well as EvilSeph himself. I could not come to make that decision, it didn’t feel right.

    Now that Mojang has assumed control of all aspects of Bukkit, that gut wrenching decision is more palatable. Not because I harbor any ill will toward Mojang or the Bukkit community, but because I know Mojang has the resources available to really improve Bukkit. They can work with Curse to ensure BukkitDev has adequate staffing to handle the rigorous approval process - which has an incredible track record for keeping the community safe from those less savory elements of human nature. They can help when we have bugs that should be fixed in Minecraft itself. They can ensure whatever community contributions added to Bukkit can be taken into the Minecraft codebase itself. Now, more than ever, our community can actively contribute to Minecraft in a very real, direct way. You should submit your PR’s now, your code may very well contribute to the base game itself, an aspect which makes me want to dust off my 13 year old Java books and start developing again. In any event, should Mojang want any help in transitioning over the project to their control, I will gladly provide assistance where I can.

    I would personally like to thank all the volunteers who have contributed to Bukkit over the years. Our forum moderators have done wonders keeping this a welcoming, warm community. Our developers who repeatedly spend hours updating Minecraft, adding API and improving the codebase. Our many other unsung volunteers handling aspects from PR handling, to advice. Last but definitely not least, our BukkitDev staff who have spent countless hours keeping the community safe, as one of the most thankless tasks we have.

    I am extremely excited to see what Mojang can do with their vast resources to help the very community where some of its most prominent developers had their roots. This is exciting news for the Minecraft community in general, and perhaps when my daughter is old enough to play, I will meet up with you again on one of your fantastic servers, enjoying the features of one of your cool plugins. For now though, my family and my daughter comes first for my attention, as well as my heart.
     
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    TheHandfish

    TnT and BensDaMan like this.
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    xDeeKay

    Thank you for everything you've done for the Bukkit community, you had an awesome run, and you will be missed.
    Farewell, TnT
     
    TnT, MoeMix and TheHandfish like this.
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    Necrodoom

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    desht

    All the best TnT - you'll definitely be missed.
     
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  6. ima miss Ur work ♥ daughter will be the next developer xD
     
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  7. Thanks TnT for all of your contributions, you will be missed!
     
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    BossEndorphin

    Thanks for your work, have a great time with your family. And thank you for you interesting post!

    Now i wonder if this post will be censored by Mojang as well. At least the part starting at "As for Mojang’s involvement..." And the part where you confirm that bukkit has been shut down.

    As for the future of bukkit i think it's very naive to believe that Mojang would do a good job and invest resources in this project - not in a long term and no, i still can't see it's being updated to 1.8 by dinnerbone himself. He has tweeted that? Oh, wow, i'm impressed! :D

    But i love to get proven wrong, good luck ;)
     
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    legodude192

    Thank you TnT for all of your hard work in the Community, and making minecraft more fun. All of your work will be missed!
     
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    JOPHESTUS

    :'( You will be dearly missed. Thank you for everything, TnT.
     
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    Jocke155

    I'll not be sad by the fact that I and many others will miss you, i'll be happy about the good memories the whole community and you had this past years.

    farewell, and good luck in the future! [tnt] TnT
     
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    Searchndstroy

    May Mojang use bukkit to their advantage. Mojang will hopefully make bukkit even better.
    Didn't know you well, but I do know you played a big role in bukkit's development. May you play an even bigger role with your family. :cool:
    So sad to see [tnt] and EvilSeph leave. :(
     
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    MoeMix

    Ok someone should just make a Bukkit documentary. So many feels D;
    But thank you so very much TnT. Despite our not so close relationship, I will still remember you and miss you. I think all of us can say the same. And as for your daughter, have a fun time raising her. She has a great dad ;)

    goodbyes <3
     
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    sablednah

    I know how much those tiny ones sap your time away :)

    Will be sorry to see you go. And may I say how refreshing it is even to see those who butted heads with you wish you well. You aren't just liked by people, more importantly you are respected.
     
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    Jozeth

    Bye. [diamond]
     
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    Inscrutable

    Dear TnT, you have a whole-hearted thank you from me and MsInscrutable, you've been an eidolon of moderation on Bukkit forums. Your patience and ability to negotiate even the most ridiculous debates has been incomparable. This should put you in good stead for the trials of parenthood, we wish you the best of success in that endeavor.
     
    TnT and fromgate like this.
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    DavidKorean

    Thank you TnT for keeping Bukkit so far.
     
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  18. You will be missed TnT, thanks for everything you've done for the community.
     
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    Novustorious

    Goodbye! ;(
     
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    Manraj1999

    You have made us all proud,TnT and all the Bukkit Staff!
     
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    imN8

    Farewell, and good luck with everything you do. [tnt]
     
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  22. Thanks for all you gave and good luck for the future ;)
     
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    Lolmewn

    So long, my friend. You will forever be remembered.
     
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    BlueMustache

    Best of luck!
    We will mis you!

    Ad Adernam.
    Vale Decem.

    -Blue
     
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    Dez11

    Thank you for your great contributions to Bukkit! Best of luck for you and your family! Congratulations on your daughter and enjoy your time with your family!
     
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    Mamayadesu

    We will remember, we won't stop loving, we will grieve :(
     
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    Ivan

    Sad to see you go TnT :(, you'll always have a place in my heart ;)
     
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    turt2live

    TnT - Thank you for being an inspiration and motivation within the Bukkit project and all of it's aspects. I cannot be sure that without you the project would not be where it is today in the community aspect. Being a PR handler, it has been difficult at times to get things done, but you always seemed to have a way to get me, as well as others, working through the backlog of PRs so that no one feels left out (or overworked / unappreciated). I hope to see you around, but if not, I will find a way to cope.

    Thank you, and enjoy the fish.
     
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  29. TnT We didn't always think eye to eye on things but I will miss you around the forums!
     
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    TigerHix

    Thank you.
     
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    BensDaMan

    You hold an unspoken of piece in my heart, i definitely aspire to be like you one day, your awesome and we love you and the work you've done in the past! Thank you for dedicating and pouring years of your life into the Bukkit project!
    You won't be forgotten TnT <3 :)
    - Ben
     
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