'We never moderate anyone unless the break the rules"

I've been experimenting with new (to me) games and communities recently, and the similarities and differences between moderation teams has proved insightful. Although they all have their own quirks and cultures, which greatly inform their interpretations and applications of rules, the common theme among them, which I only now realize has proven true, as far as I can tell, of every moderation team I've ever come into contact with, is that they all believe in their moderating decisions (though some surely experience self-doubt).
I believe that Mystic and his fellow staff believe this, and strive towards this, even if the last caveat of his post points to personal confliction with some of the executive prescriptions. Of course, I also believe that the moderation there has been the single most ineffective community-management effort I've ever seen, but I highly doubt that there is the kind of malicious intentions described by some people there.
It's nice to see that some people heard and continue to hear our voices. 

I'm sure Vallo, as well as everyone else who disapproves of SotA and the people involved in its development, believe that they are just in their judgments, not unlike how the moderators perceive their own judgments.  Personally, I'm convinced that the purely malicious intentions sometimes described on both forums are inaccurate.

I think that SotA's community-management failings are just a symptom of a larger failing. All video-game developers have to face a lot of criticism, and inevitably some of it will come across as venomous, or even blatantly hateful. I suspect that there comes a point in every moderator's service when they find themselves censoring what is only a vaguely inappropriate comment due in part because of the comment or poster's strong stance against the game.  After all, the very purpose of moderation is to benefit the game, so a conflict of interest between damage-control and Justice is inevitable.

In games which prove particularly poor or expensive (or both), the amount of criticism goes up, sometimes dramatically, and as moderators are increasingly challenged to uphold painstakingly vague rules to the end of benefiting the game and community, the line between hate and criticism begins to blur, not just for the moderators, but for the posters too.  I think this image sums it up concisely.

So cat piss lady Firelotus was demoted back to the trailer park and replaced by Berek, who is truly the new Queen of Toxic.

65% on steam and dropping.

112 Peak in the last 30 days. 240 is the most, at peak, that has ever logged on through Steam, and that was back in November 2014.

Millions of interested players are comin', I tell ya. They're just waiting for release in July.