On the topic of context regarding the topic of discussion here, there may be some who don't quite grasp how harmful Mystic was to this community in general. I've talked about my experiences with him in the past, but I will elaborate on it again in an attempt to convey my viewpoint and experiences on the matter for those who lack the proper context to the situation. Do note however that I have never been a part of the Discord server, so I will not be covering anything he did there, as it falls outside of my experience and as such is not my place to speak on. Note also that this post will be long. I'm not going to condense things down much in this post. I will not give a TL;DR at the end, as I feel it is important for the sake of proper context that my experiences not be watered down and simplified.
I first joined this community as a young teenager well over a decade ago. I was enthusiastic about the game, and thought it might be fun to join the community. Some of my posts from back then are probably pretty cringe, I would rather not go back and dig through them myself, but one thing I know for sure about them was that the spelling and grammar were... Less than perfect in my posts.
Although this was (and is) a forum naturally inclined to attract younger users, and as such users not yet well versed in proper usage of the English language in written form, my spelling and grammar at the time would become the main problem point with my relationship with the administration here at the time. More accurately, Mystic. At the time, I was unable to differentiate between the different admins/mods active at the time. I didn't know them as people. As such, the actions of Mystic were seen by me as the unanimous actions of the administration here in general. When he gave me a temp ban (Maybe even two, it's been a while so I have a hard time remembering) on account of my spelling and grammar, it left a strong emotional impact on me. I felt threatened with eventual exile from the community over something that I viewed as a petty, toxic policy against anything less than perfect written English. Rather than allow my account to face a permanent ban over it, I left the community of my own accord. I saved my account information where I wouldn't lose it just in case, and off I went.
Some time later, I decided to dip my toes back in the water and find if it still stung. My spelling and grammar had improved, so I logged in again and
replied to a topic. Once again, Mystic showed his petty intolerance for less than perfect grammar. This time, in addition to me getting an infraction he sent me PM warning me not to do it again. I took the hint, and disappeared for a decade.
For years I warned friends of mine with imperfect grammar not to join the MB here on account of the administrations toxic intolerance of spelling and grammar mistakes. Much likely happened here in that time, but I had no idea what because I no longer considered myself a part of the community and no longer desired to keep up with the goings on here. Mystic had singlehandedly soured my perspective of the administration as a whole here and driven me away.
I never expected to return, but then SRB2 2.2 dropped. By now, I had long since graduated high school and moved on with my life. My spelling and grammar had much improved, and the update blew me away with how impressive it was. I thought to myself that perhaps it was time to give the MB another shot. Perhaps the place had changed for the better? Well, the place certainly had changed. No longer was I receiving infractions on my posts for spelling and grammar, nor receiving PM's warning me about it. I was making fewer mistakes, so I was unsure entirely if the problems regarding that had gone away. However, Mystic was very much still here, and his viewpoint on things and mine were anything but the same.
In several different threads over the course of months, my viewpoint and his clashed on occasion. I began to realize by paying closer attention this time around that Mystic was... Different from most of the rest of the mods and admins. I didn't see much of a problem with anyone else, but he in particular had a tendency of being much less reasonable. Specifically, while I no longer need fear infractions for spelling and grammar, he displayed a general lack of transparency, a lack of respect for the community, and a tendency of being unable to take criticism and to throw around accusations. In one topic in particular, he locked the topic with a
"screw you, I'm right, you're wrong" post while simultaneously accusing me of being contrarian just for the sake of it. This would ultimately end up being my final interaction with him. A rather sour note to end things on. I also witnessed during my time here him lacking tolerance for people expressing their viewpoints on subjects related to topics he had locked. It was as if his final word was law, and everyone was mandated by him to get in line.
Fun fact about my PC at the time: It was the very same PC I was using when I joined this community over a decade ago. It was old. Really old. Originally built back around 2005 or 2006. I experienced some rather unfortunate hard drive failures including my C drive. I figured it was about time I build a brand new PC, so for some time I didn't have a PC while I saved up in preparation of my upgrade.
Eventually I finally had my new PC built, and I decided to pop back in here to see what I had missed in the months I was gone. It was then that I saw this thread, and realized what had happened. Let me be clear about something: I was never a fan of the way he handled things, but I did respect him in regards to his stubborn insistence to stick to his guns and defend his point of view. If he had been more reasonable, he may very well have been the admin I respected the most on account of his backbone. However, he was not. Seeing the topic and reading people's perspectives that they previously didn't have the courage to speak up about when he was around made me realize that I wasn't the only one who had similar issues with him. Mystic was a problem here on the MB that had driven a great many people away with his toxic, borderline authoritarian way of handling things and treating the community.
This topic therefore stands as a monument. This community needs to never forget what happened, and never repeat his mistakes. I do not see this as a toxic topic for bashing Mystic. I see it as an outlet for people to share their experiences regarding him, and convey the harm he caused to this community. I see it as a way for those who were not affected by what he did to see others testimonies on it and understand what he did wrong, and why it was wrong. This topic is a chance for the community to heal and grow. A chance to move on in a positive way, rather than to just bury what happened and let it fester.