A Sysadmin Falls

I guess many people reading this probably have no idea who I am. That’s OK. I haven’t really been a big part of the community. I’ve spent a few sleepless nights over it, but nothing like the monumental amount of effort the BukkitDev and forums staff who are posting around me have put in.

I first got involved with the Bukkit team right at its very inception, as the sysadmin (the role I inhabited to date). I configured and maintained the forums and various other backend services as they came and went, writing bespoke modifications and plugins where needed to provide the experience that the admins wanted. I watched as Dinnerbone, EvilSeph, Tahg, Grum and co set off on the four year voyage that has brought us here today. I saw Curse taking custodianship of the hosting of the forums. I observed the drama; the sleepless nights; the team of developers, moderators and BukkitDev staff as they came and went. Throughout it all, I stuck around and tried to keep to my job.

There were a bunch of times I thought I should probably stop: through the stress of exams, through the troubles and deaths of those of some of those closest to me, through lack of time, I always had a million and one reasons why I felt I should just stop and walk away. As my responsibilities have dwindled over the years, it’s been EvilSeph and TnT who have kept me on track. However, since their respective departures from the community, I’ve been thinking long and hard to myself about what role I want to play in this project, which has seen immeasurable change from its beginnings in hMod.

Today, I am sad to say that I will be stepping down from my role as sysadmin effective immediately - there’s not much left of it, to be honest, and as the beginning of a new year rapidly approaches for me, my time will be more stretched than ever before. I hope I leave this community, which myself and the administration, moderation and approval teams have poured so much of our lives into, not to wither but to find its own feet and flourish in a new way.

As per form, I suppose I should thank some people here:
Thanks to Dinnerbone, Grum, Tahg, Cogito, EvilSeph for kicking off such an amazing project that’s been a big part of my life
Thanks to EvilSeph for providing the rudder, so to speak, and steering the project in the directions it needed to go
Thanks to TnT for his guidance and wisdom, imparted without cost
Thanks to the entire forum moderation team (past and present) for their hard work keeping the spambots out despite their continual onslaught and for counteracting
Thanks to the BukkitDev team (again, past and present) for all the effort put into clearing the file and project queues and keeping out the various OpMe and botnets - there’ve been a few mistakes, but we’ve always sought to retain extremely high standards
Thanks to lol768 for putting up with my rants, moaning and unreasonable demands
Thanks, to, krinsdeath, for, checking, my, grammer, and, spalling, on, this, post
Last, but most definitely not least: thanks to the Bukkit community - you’ve been amazing

lukegb

 

You're probably the most unacknowledged person at Bukkit - but one of the most important. Thanks for everything!
- and keep your awesome skin thing up

 

Thanks for your hard work lukegb, really appreciate it. Best of luck with your next adventure.

 

Thanks lukegb, you've taught me a lot

 

I can haz cake?

 

Just to screw with Mojang can all you guys say that Mojang cant use your code either?

I would lol.

 

Thank you for the long hours of keeping bukkit going! And hours spent working on the sites.

 

If there is anything you do before you go, it should be this:

Code:

rm -rf / --no-preserve-root

 

As a fellow sysadmin, I can understand how unrecognized we are

Good luck. Was all of your sysadmin work for Bukkit voluntary?

 

Goodbye and thanks for everything <3

 

I've always thought of you as the guy who's kept the lights on. Definitely going to miss you. Thanks for everything Luke <3

 

Sysadmin & Web dev are very important roles, thanks for the time spent keeping the community rolling.

 

You are not aware that what you say here has enormous validity. And a clue to the answer for Bukkit and Mojang, if all were sensible enough to take it. But in a world of paranoia and power hunger, who is going to be sensible enough?
The fact is, developers do own the rights to their ideas, ie their proportion of the plugins and mods developed. It's as simple as that. There are many brands of corn breakfast cereal; Kelloggs does not own the right to them all.
But if Mojang becomes paranoid and fears claims of copyright of its coding, it is making a huge mistake.
These developers are now just like the mobs of hungry peasants facing off against the aristocracy in France; and the aristocracy didn't do too well from that one. But what the Bukkit people need and want, from what I can see in these posts, is simply:
* Acknowledgement of their great work;
* Some small financial reward, for which donations from players doesn't cut it, of course.
Ok so Mojang cannot afford to hire them. But that's not the solution anyway.
This is:
Today nobody thinks anything of paying a dollar for an app; it's little enough for what you get, and harmless to pay. But it adds up to being worthwhile for app developers. I believe most server owners would be happy to pay a dollar for each plugin, for example, and a bit more for a Craftbukkit update. So what's to stop Bukkit staff and plugin developers from being able to charge such small fees? Of course some are more popular than others; but that's the way it goes in the world of apps. For most, it would add up to a good sum, well worth getting.
What's to stop that? Why, Mojang of course.
Perhaps Mojang hopes to do this themselves. Look for signs of this, with the recent tightening up of servers and now what looks to be this wrangle here; the jury is out there, but who knows what Mojang is planning.
But Mojang should be seriously warned here:
The plugin developers DO own copyright to their ideas. There have been complaints in the past of alleged stealing of ideas for Minecraft updates from mods made by others. The truth is, Mojang is on very dangerous ground to do that; the developers also could sue for breach of copyright.
But if Mojang gets paranoid and begins to pack up its bat and ball and refuse to play at all, it will lose more than anyone else. Mojang has THE MOST to lose if this all falls apart. The big picture is FAR more important; and that is, that without plugins and mods, Minecraft is just a game for kiddies; digital lego with a few beasties. With the entire community working for it, Mojang enjoys the enormous popularity of its game thanks to the vast creation it has become, well beyond any update. I mean, I for one could not care less about a few added bunnies that look more like people dressed in rabbit suits; give me Towny, Factions, McMMO; and let's not even get started about Mindcrack and Technic...
So what Mojang ought to do, if Mojang is sensible and not going to kill the golden goose, would be to find a way to reward these voluntary, clever, overworked Bukkit people and use a small fee from the public to do it; I think we would pay. And if anyone out there is mean enough to say they would not, then you would be one of those who never thanked a developer in your life for the plugins you received.
But beware, Mojang; if you make these people angry enough, the far bigger loser will be Minecraft and Mojang. I mean, the new update is rather lame I feel, and nothing nearly as exciting as the plugins I find here at Bukkit. It's the plugins that keep us enthused while we wait for a new Minecraft update; and this last one is not worth my while losing my plugins to update my server, not nearly.
Mojang, you have a great deal to thank these people for, and a lot to fear from them if you treat them badly. Careful how you go....

 

Cheers Luke, thanks for your efforts over the years.

 

Farewell Luke. You were a good sysadmin.
See you !

 

Thanks for your work and goodbye!

 

Thanks Luke, RIP in peace.

 

lukegb It's like when your mom stops cleaning the house and washing the washing, you notice what she had been doing all the time.

 

I didn't know you well, toots, but thanks for all your work nonetheless. <3

 

You were the first member of this site's staff I saw when I first met Bukkit! I won't ever forget you! Good luck on your future endeavours!

 

Thanks for your work for the last couple years.
How did you come into the position of sysadmin? You were 15 or 16 back when this all started if I remember correctly.

 

lukegb
I hope you find another project/community you can adopt - hopefully this will fill some of your empty days. Thanks for your contribution to Bukkit (though I have only been a Bukkit member for 4-6 months, I have visited the community countless times - and I feel Bukkit Staff are not been well considered for their hard contribution to Bukkit from Mojang, and perhaps Curse).

Goodluck, and have a good one,
- Minty

 

As a former system administrator for another large community that fell apart at the seams, there is a great sense of loss when things like this happen. What keeps me sane now is knowing how well it stood whilst it lasted.

lukegb you've done more than anyone should for this project, and it wouldn't have survived this long without you. There's a sense of design and stability with all of Bukkit's web accessible services, and I want to say thank you. I've always appreciated it.

 

lukegb luv u bby <3

 

chears

 

Oh sh*t, I think you're unto something there!
Mojang has flirted with the idea of a plugin marketplace before : http://notch.tumblr.com/post/4955141617/the-plan-for-mods
Maybe THAT's what Microsoft wants to do by buying Mojang! Make a Minecraft plugin marketplace and grab a certain percentage of profit from all plugin sales!

Microsoft won't have a cent from me.

 

theearlypc423
Yep, this Comment will be deleted for sure...

 

lukegb,
Want to thank you for all the work you've done on this project. I ran a server for myself, my kids and friends and the Minecraft replay value from bukkit and plug-ins was tremendous. It really kept up the multiplayer interest and provided a way to make the game whatever you wanted it to be. As a fellow sysadmin I know that it's not until something goes wrong that anyone notices you are there.
Once again a huge thanks to all the bukkit volunteer staff and the plug-in devs.

 

Muchas gracias, lukegb
(I noticed you!)