Aloha Ninjutsu. :( Aloha MAP!

I may be remaining active here longer than I intended. What I will not be doing, now or in the future, is providing further ninjutsu advice in the subforum. Please respect this and do not ask for my input on the topic again. That chapter of my life is formally closed to MAP, which is unfortunate, because I have been here since the early days, and I’ve come to feel a great deal of respect for the moderators, primarily in accidentally pissing them all off by merely kicking a few puppies. Viscous puppies though, I assure you.



My reason for reconsidering is due to a very horrible tragedy that happened to someone I was trying to help locally. This person is very small, and very vulnerable. I unfortunately couldn’t act more efficiently because of my gradually failing health. I have already reached out to a local martial artist and am negotiating structuring some local assets to further improve community outreach awareness and education about the underlying issue. There is initial enthusiasm from the local martial artists and social service professionals I’ve spoken to. Between the two of us, we hopefully know enough teachers to make a meaningful social impact. Anyway, my time will be further divided away from MAP and far, far less frequent, though my need for this site as a resource more solidified.



Before this tragedy, what I wrote (approximately three weeks ago) as my goodbye message, is as follows:

Quote:

I’ve been meaning to clarify my motivations for leaving as I promised I would do, but I’ve been so busy I couldn’t produce a long enough block of free time to write this until now. Even presently I am putting off responsibilities to write it. My need to retire from MAP is predominately due to “time;” or the lack there of. I have both a job offer for a medical laboratory I’ve been waxing and waning about taking, and I am certainly returning to college as soon as my funding to do so is secured. I do not trust the CEO building the lab, or the consistency of my health, and am leaning towards turning down the offer and just focusing on my education to facilitate a telecommunication-based career, but I still have too many ambitious projects I need to finish before that happens. Now I want to be clear that I have a lot of respect for the MAP moderator team and the community they have volunteered their time, energy, and resources to build and Internet police. I think they’re an exceptional group and they’ve got something genuinely special in MAP. I also feel quite a bit of sympathy for them having to deal with the childishness both inside and outside the ninjutsu community, and because of that I understand their very reasonable frustrations for anything ninjutsu-related. They give up their time to run as politically neutral of a website as they can manage while helping newbs find friends they can punch in the face. If they weren’t so dedicated to what they do, there would be so many faces left unpunched, and that’s not a world I wanna live in. Thank you those that messaged me and asked me to stay. I do appreciate it. I let my inbox fill up on purpose because I lacked the time to properly reply to those who wanted to message me privately, and I didn’t want to have to ignore personal messages. It was not my intention to be rude about that, and I apologize if you felt it was. I had been considering leaving for awhile before formally announcing I was. I knew that day was coming with or without a new reason. That doesn’t mean I’m leaving for good. I still need this site as a resource myself occasionally. I’m sure I’ll pop in periodically to make some smartass comment in Off Topic, probably about dogs. Please do not ask me for any further advice about ninjutsu-related topics, here or elsewhere. Also, please do not direct me to that subforum again. Ever. For those who weren't following what I'm talking about, the post I was being openly trolled about can be seen here and here. I didn't see a point in continuing to engage and further feed the need for attention that is so often the purpose of the non-practicing members who "visit" the ninjutsu subforum, and further waste my limited free time. Thank you, John (P.S.: Please make sure to send Ero messages with pink borders and lacy swirl designs. Those are his favorite. He also likes it when you tell him how lovely his eyes are and that he is a sensitive and beautiful man.)

Eventually I will get around to emptying my MAP inbox. I’m afraid I have far more pressing concerns presently--some of them involving possible testimony in criminal proceedings. I only ask that if you need anything from me, please, just direct your questions through Ero’s MAP mail account exclusively. Use lavender font, as he has privately assured me it fills his soul with joy and a sense of communal love. He also prefers scented candles and rose pedals in his bathwater. Thank you.