I Miss Fish

=( I bet alot of people do. He left awhile back and was a great mod here and writer and overall person. And I miss em.

I too miss /Fish/.
Despite what some may say he was a contributor and was the only moderator for a long time. I'd say he did a pretty good job.
His disappearance also put pressure on other moderators since he was the oldest active moderator.

Who was /Fish/ and why did he leave?

Fish was a member and moderator of the Felarya forum. You can see many of his posts in older threads.
As I said before he was the only moderator on the forum for a time. He didn't do a perfect job of it but I think he kept things more or less stable.
He was also a great guy to talk to. He wasn't afraid to voice negative views about things that needed work, something I respect. However there were times when he could have been a bit more tactful.

As to why he left, I believe there no single reason. However most can be summed up is this:
He didn't like how Felarya (unsure whether this is the community or the world) was going and the way he was being treated, as due to his blunt way of speaking (and the fact that some people just don't like flaws being pointed out) some people resented his comments. There were also some other events.

I personally didn't like his bluntness.

You know, this thread should have probably been made a long time ago and I lament the fact that I did not create it myself due to my own laze. In any case, now that the opportunity has arisen I think it is fitting that I tell of the personal bond I had with /Fish/.

Funnily enough, when at first we met one another I had a distaste for him, due to our conflicting interests and my own immaturity and ignorance. In spite of this though he retained a certain patience with me, which I am grateful to him for doing, and in time, through various conversations we held, the differences between us were resolved. From this I developed a level of respect for him, but at the time it was simply professional and we had no real friendship established. There came a certain point though (I am unable to recall the events that led up to it) in which I grew somewhat distant from the community as a whole. Looking upon it now I think it was simply because I hadn't quite educated myself enough in regards to Felarya, and as such couldn't contribute anything meaningful. Here did /Fish/ step in, privately pointing me in the right direction and helping me to not choke up when it came to more complex things about the universe. Through this guidance did I come to actually write to any decent degree, utilizing fully what I had been taught by him. I remember fondly the night on which I created my new DeviantArt, and submitted the story I had created with the help of /Fish/. It was the beginning of what I can honestly say were my happiest times as part of the community here.

From that point, we only grew closer. This time we were friends as apposed to simply being acquaintances, and many a late night did I stay up speaking to him over messenger. We brainstormed things together, we passed ideas to one another and critiqued the works of one another, and I'm not ashamed to admit that we had a good deal of making jests at others in our conversations. Soon enough Felarya just fell into the long lists of common interests we had, and was no longer the entire basis of the relationship. Like the big children we were we joked and laughed and played games (One night we had a good deal of the ventrillo users engaged in an online pokemon server with us).

But he was as wise as he was playful, and I knew I could depend upon him when I was in need of guidance. I did a lot of growing up with /Fish/, both figuratively and literally, as I believe our time together spanned little over a year, unless I've just lost track entirely. In the end though, I suppose that it simply wasn't meant to last forever, and /Fish/ was gone. He had given some warning before hand, coming in the form of his initial break off from the community, but never would I have suspected he would simply vanish and I would lose all means of contact. Unfortunately, that seems to be the present reality, and as sappy as it may seem I was bought to near tears when I discovered that I couldn't get a hold of him in any way. I'm still saddened and this thread served only to cause it to resurface.

Still though, I haven't abandoned entirely the hope that he might return one day, and as such I've done my best to continue on in a way I think he would've been proud of.


I miss /Fish/.

Yes, I will admit that I also miss Fish. Most of the time, his presence was enjoyed except when it lead to conflict, but for the most part, yeah, I miss him.

Fish miss me for many reasons. He was a good moderators and someone you can have a good discussion even if we were in disagreement it was a pleasure to discuss with him.

Yeah, I was just thinking this recently as well. /Fish/ was a great guy, levelheaded, blunt and with good, original thinking. His Felaryan stories were some of the ones that inspired me that my own writing style could fit within the Universe. Monty is a great character and a perfect example of sticking close to the world while still forging ahead into new ground.

As someone who is also quite blunt often, I highly respected that he had no tolerance for whiners and base dumbness, even if that did lead to resentment against him by whiners/the dumb.


I'm sad he left before I got to know him any better.

I miss /Fish/.

(Image taken on 27th december 2010)
Maybe he's not completely gone. I still doubt he'll be back.

Indeed he was a solid contributor and a smart and sharp guy with lot of imagination.
Now I admit I wasn't always agree with his way of moderating though.. As an user I think his bluntness was welcome, as a mod I think you have to be a bit more neutral and stay out of the fray so to speak..
But there is no doubt his presence and rich contribution to the universe and community is really missed indeed ..

He was a good mod and did help contribute a vast amount of content to Felarya.

Though, I will be completely honest. Some times he just passed the point of "being a friendly mod" and started getting too aggressive on people who didn't share his opinions.

I think that might have been due to frustration.

To be honest, I have done a similar thing once, however it was out of a misguided attempt to help rather than frustration.

We should try to hide our flaws as best we can, but nobody gets it right all the time.
As the saying goes, "Nobody is perfect."

I would rather have more blunt and intelligent members of the community than whiny members with poor contribution.

I think it's safe to say the majority of us would really like fish back, he was an important part of the community and it feels like there's a empty place here without em.

I also liked his bluntness Hell it was something ALOT of people aren't, Truthful. He spoke his mind and he didn't sugar coat shit. And some people CAN"T take that but really myself and I'm sure alot of others would rather someone be honest with them then give them polite lies.
That DIDN"T mean he wasn't a nice guy. Being blunt and to the point DOESN"T always mean you're a douche. He was a prime example of "tough love" and honestly I think it did more good then harm in the long run.

Pendragon wrote:

Though, I will be completely honest. Some times he just passed the point of "being a friendly mod" and started getting too aggressive on people who didn't share his opinions.

I do believe I was on the receiving end of that once, which I admit fostered a little resentment. He was a little too abrasive at times. I mean, we all have our faults, and part of being human is accepting others' faults as they accept yours. I'm guilty of the same thing every once in a while. Of course, I'm much less likely to have people say I'm just being truthful and direct, and much more likely to be called a douche, but hey, it's best to take things in stride.

i miss him too

he helped me with... well, almost all my ideas actually. but due to my hellishly scattered mind and laziness, only a few of them has actually been completed and published on the forum.

his bluntness was for me, a huge plus. he didn't care about peoples feelings (this may sound wrong to some, but please ignore that^^') and said things as they were.

i wish that he would come back

Fish has helped me some, but often when I first joined I was on the receiving end quite a bit, which honestly put me off. I kinda miss the guy, and often find myself wondering where he went and why.

It is true we all have faults. However, part of growing up is in overcoming those faults; it also means a willingness to accept criticism. Mercy is an overrated virtue; the way it is being practiced now, it is a tolerance for incompetence. I don't just accuse this community here; I notice all over the world these days. People have become to afraid of offending people, of hurting their feelings. Hell, I used to be like that. Now, I see the virtue in demanding competence, seriousness, and perfection. If one can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Is perfection impossible? Sure. But setting it as a standard gives people something to work toward; by setting the bar extremely high, one brings out the best in people. When we proclaim that perfection is not man's domain, we are implicitly saying that incompetence is man's lot. I say aim for perfection, toss the first stone, and don't turn the other cheek.

Bring back Fish. And the sensibility that came with it. Does it bruise some egos? Sure, but it helps people's characters match their self-image. Forgiveness and accomodation is another way of saying "Reward weakness, punish strength".

I halfway agree. While I admit that incompetence shouldn't be tolerated as much as it is today, that isn't to say forgiveness promotes incompetence. A lack of forgiveness is every bit as bad as too much of it. Once again, it's a matter of extremes, is it not?

ZionAtriedes wrote:

I halfway agree. While I admit that incompetence shouldn't be tolerated as much as it is today, that isn't to say forgiveness promotes incompetence. A lack of forgiveness is every bit as bad as too much of it. Once again, it's a matter of extremes, is it not?

What if they do it again?

I think Zion's point is that there is a difference between being forgiving and being just plain soft. I can see where you come from, you gotta set some standards, but too high standards is no better than too low standards. I mean, we're not supposed to be elitists.

Sean Okotami wrote:

I think Zion's point is that there is a difference between being forgiving and being just plain soft. I can see where you come from, you gotta set some standards, but too high standards is no better than too low standards. I mean, we're not supposed to be elitists.

What's wrong with elitism?

You just shun newbies away essentially. I may be a bit more extreme than in reality, but to me that translate as "be good from the very start or GTFO". I used to be a shitty writer when I first came out in early 2008 (If you're that curious, my earliest stories are on the last or second to last page of the Story forum), but now I think I'm at least halfway decent. Sure, high enough standards are good, but being plain rude about it is bad too. Sure, you can voice something is wrong, but if you want to be more effective, help and support the newbie so he improves, which is something that I personally don't see on this forum.

Sean Okotami wrote:

You just shun newbies away essentially. I may be a bit more extreme than in reality, but to me that translate as "be good from the very start or GTFO". I used to be a shitty writer when I first came out in early 2008 (If you're that curious, my earliest stories are on the last or second to last page of the Story forum), but now I think I'm at least halfway decent. Sure, high enough standards are good, but being plain rude about it is bad too. Sure, you can voice something is wrong, but if you want to be more effective, help and support the newbie so he improves, which is something that I personally don't see on this forum.

I guess the golden mean I seek is this: Have high standards, help people reach them, shun those who ultimately prove they can't reach them.