Ubiquiti - Tom

jon

Hey, been seeing some discussions of the community upset regarding Tom. As many ...

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Hey Jon, thanks for your support. I didn't think about my impact on the community while maintaining the moderator role, and that's on me. I should have stepped down years ago, and I tried to separate my personal usage with another, Ubiquiti employee tagged account. However, this has proved untenable in the long term and undermined community trust. Going forward, I'll remain here, with an employee tag on both Discord accounts, but I do intend to remain part of this community, still providing help and assistance, just as you all helped teach me.

Tom for president!

I haven't been around much lately, so a quick intro: I'm Nevyn and have been on this server since day one in April of 2017, and was made a mod on either that first day or the day after, I don't remember. I took over ownership of the server in May of 2019 after Eugene left, before eventually passing it on due to life being too busy, and formally stepped down as mod both here and on the subreddit in March of 2022, but was allowed to stay in a mod channel, so I did witness the conversations happening around Tom as they occurred. First, context: Tom was a longtime member here already and had been noted for his knowledge and helpfulness, and was thus on a very short list when being considered, and then made a mod in December of 2021. In May of 2022 he alerted the mod team that he had a real possibility of being hired at UI, with the intent of stepping down as mod, and discussing how it would be handled. Due to availability, this conversation took a few days, but another mod that I will leave unnamed suggested he simply have an official account as well rather than transitioning to a non-mod role completely. This got immediate support, and let me be blunt here: this was selfishness. Tom had proven himself time and time again and was a great mod; nobody wanted to lose him. In the ensuing years, he has remained both professional and helpful without any conflict between his roles. I have been informed that he is stepping down as mod, and I, for one, am saddened by this, but am glad that at least he will continue in the community as an employee so we don't lose such a valuable, knowledgeable, and helpful member.

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No fuck them. I like your schizophrenic arguing with yourself. And I do like you having the separate accounts, because then I know when UI-Tom is posting it is “from the horse’s mouth”

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7:39 PM

And as far as you being a mod with your personal account, that’s your personal account. Again, fuck them

Anyone who has been here long enough already knew this info...

Wholeheartedly agree with everything Nevyn said. I’ve been here long enough to recognize the value he provides, honestly sounds like someone is upset they aren’t an UI employee, a discord mod or a Reddit mod

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jealousy comes in many forms

I've never been a mod here, but I've been around and known Tom since before he started working for Ubiquiti. It seemed to me that he was as fair and reasonable as a mod after as he was before, so I'm not sure where people are pulling these complaints from, other than their asses.
Anyway, I'm glad that Tom will be sticking around, as he's been an invaluable member of the community, and I have no doubt he'll continue to be. If internet randos have a problem with that, well, they can go be intimate with a cactus

I'm just curious, what was the reason to hide the association in the first place? I always knew and never pushed the issue.. but why even play it off like the two personalities weren't one in the same? What was there to gain from that?

also the value of having a UI employee that interacts with the community is kinda..y'know, high

Again, because his personal account is personal

Ya, but he's told me on more than one occassion "why are you asking me? I don't work for UI"

also no real reason for it to be public knowledge

like I'm asking you because I know you do work for UI and can help, but ok

Were you asking his blue account? No, because you know his blue account works for UI. his personal account is his personal account. This is no different than having to carry two cell phones where one is a work cell phone and that is the only conversations that are done on it

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ANYHOW, it's not a big deal to me. Thanks for helping me in the past Tom

Some of us had had adult jobs where things had to be clearly defined between a personal and the professional

lol

7:51 PM

"adult jobs"

7:51 PM

pretty sure we all have those

7:52 PM

don't be so patronizing

spot

Were you asking his blue account? No, because you know his blue account works fo...

what bullshit response is that, if people ask if he works for ui, and he blatantly states he doesn't. when he does, does it matter they asked "the wrong discord handle"? in what context do you see this as trustworthy

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I'll bow out of this because I don't really care one way or another.. all I can say is SE/Tom was extremely helpful to me when I first got here and then well, not so much. But it's whatever.

icemanxbe

what bullshit response is that, if people ask if he works for ui, and he blatant...

Trustworthy? , the fuck are you talking about?

Again, a clear separation between his personal account and his professional account, his personal account was his opinions, his professional account was the party line

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I'll add.. Tom is actually a nice guy and approachable in person as well

I suspected this like 2 years ago so I asked some people and SE messaged me directly and told me he wasn’t. I personally don’t care. SuddenlyEngineer/UI Tom has offered me plenty of help in the past I guess in both personas, and I’m thankful for that. Just feels dirty I guess

7:57 PM

This doesnt change the help I’ve received. Sad to see him go as a mod because I’ve genuinely had great conversations and gotten insights that I wouldn’t have had(edited)

spot

Trustworthy? , the fuck are you talking about?

Again, a clear separation betwee...

jezus christ, grab a cuck chair at this point. he got found out blatantly lying, it broke the trust, i understand the panic and grasping towards 'damage control', but at this stage that ship has sailed. and yes, it is about trust, also the fact that he literally spoke to himself with these accounts, pretending to be different people, just shows how deep the trust issues seem to go.

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and like what, did you think the advice and help you got was any less valid? grow up. it’s the internet. everyone is lying in some way.

icemanxbe

jezus christ, grab a cuck chair at this point. he got found out blatantly lying,...

Meanwhile, we all laughed our asses off while he was doing that. If you don’t like it, you can fucking leave. Nobody’s keeping you here. You know what? I’m gonna help you

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proved my point.

You didn’t prove shit

8:00 PM

Oh no, he has a business phone number and a personal phone number. When he answers during business hours, the other one he answers whenever he wants

"i don't like your opinion, so here's the door", thats good moderation. but hey, seems thats been going around

jon

and like what, did you think the advice and help you got was any less valid? gro...

My name isn't really Nevyn... You found me out.

icemanxbe

"i don't like your opinion, so here's the door", thats good moderation. but hey,...

Why are you still here?

why shouldn't i be?

Again, no one’s keeping you here. The door is right there

no, thats fine, i'll stay, i havent done anything wrong, since freedom of speech exists, unless you want to enforce otherwise.

This isn’t freedom of speech. This is a benevolent dictatorship.

8:06 PM

That’s why there’s a server owner who can, you know, do anything he wants to the server

8:08 PM

If John, for some weird reason, decided that every other word must be meow, then meow, guess meow. What, meow?

8:08 PM

And yes, Siri spells John wrong

https://klipy.com/gifs/meow-super

Super Troopers Meow Scene with Gaffigan

icemanxbe

jezus christ, grab a cuck chair at this point. he got found out blatantly lying,...

broke what trust?

8:10 PM

trust with who?

icemanxbe

what bullshit response is that, if people ask if he works for ui, and he blatant...

also it actually does very much matter which discord handle because one speaks for the company and one doesn't

Wait, doesn't this violate the FTC's Material Connection Disclosure Requirement? I've seen SuddenlyEngineer the Ubiquiti employee promote/encourage the sale of Ubiquiti products.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/255.5

16 CFR § 255.5 - Disclosure of material connections.