Sending kindness around

[Kobold Catgirl]

Hi, all.

I hope this is the right subforum from this; it seemed appropriate. We've been arguing a lot lately about the issues Paizo's facing, but everyone seems to be in consensus about one thing: We care about the people who make Paizo great and want them to be okay through all this.

A lot of people have said that a good thing to do is contact your favorite staffer, or ex-staffer, with some kind words. I kind of want to encourage that kind of constructive positivity amid all of this. Truly, I want it to be a part of the process here: It's easy to do battle with the bad things, but it's just as important to bring kindness to the good things, isn't it?

So here's the place to talk about the nice things you've been sending their way. Or just say the nice things here, if you don't know how best to send them or feel shy about doing so! That's, um, what I'm doing for the time being. :P

Please don't use this thread to snipe. It's just not the place for it. Also, if a thread like this already exists, I will not apologize, I demand control over all the threads, I will be the center of attention, I can no longer be contained and I will assimilate all who dare sorry, yeah, my bad, I didn't see it on my cursory scan. <3

Anyways, I'll start. I'm honestly not the best person to start, because I actually haven't interacted a ton with Paizo staff in a long time, but I do have some names off the top of my head to at least kick things off with.

Heather F:

Heather, I've seen you posting a lot to try to keep things healthy and moderated. I really appreciate your presence here. I know it can't be easy, for lots of complicated reasons that I don't really know the full details of as well as the obvious turnover issues. I've been on a lot of heavily-moderated threads in the past--obviously just a coincidence--and I think you're doing a bang-up job of being clear, up-front, and transparent. You're also being careful not to shut down discussion overall, which is really valuable to me.

Sara Marie:

I also want to express my deep appreciation for Sara Marie, which I've done a bunch but will do again because, like I said, I've been through a lot of locked threads (coincidence!) and Sara Marie and Chris Lambertz honestly just elevated the process. She always explained why a lock happened, every time. I remember one time she forgot, or her post got lost or something, and I remember what a big kerfuffle that was simply because she had set such an amazing precedent of always explaining a threadlock that everyone was thrown into confusion. Lots of forum moderators on other sites don't even bother to offer more than a cursory overview, but Sara Marie set a fundamental norm that helped me improve how I post. And that's why I never get any of my posts deleted anymore, especially not in the last 24 hours. Sara, thank you for making this community such a wonderful place to be.

Chris Lambertz:

Oh, and Chris Lambertz! Gosh, it makes me sad it took me a moment to remember her last name. Chris was infinitely patient with people, despite her frequent role as the big scary mod who had to step in and ruin everyone's fun flamewars. I remember how she would repeatedly lean in to moderate my Threadlock Refugees thread, always in a protective fashion--she easily could have said, "This thread just invites griping about moderation and the continuation of old arguments, we're locking it," but instead she would urge posters to respect the thread's intentions so it could stay open. That care and respect honestly meant a lot to me, and it's why TL Refugees remains one of my favorite dumb threads on these forums.

Mark Seifter:

I also want to thank Mark Seifter. I haven't engaged with him a ton, but his Twitter thread was really helpful in clarifying a few things about Paizo's financial situation, and he's generally a really honest, transparent person on these forums. He offers such valuable and insightful explanations of his choices, and he's a big part of why I actually bought Pathfinder Unchained, at a time when I was sort of not bothering to buy sourcebooks anymore. Mark, thank you for your fantastic work on these games!

Liz Courts:

Liz Courts was one of the most welcoming people and patient people on the Boards when I first joined. She was what made kid-me see this place as a special kind of community, not just a muddled mass of squabbling gamers. Her work with Hugo Solis on Wayfinder remains one of the most amazing and influential contributions to Pathfinder third-party content, an incredible labor of love that made the whole community better just seeing such a thing come to be. And then she actually got hired by Paizo, and did a fantastic job as Store Manager. I still think of her as Lilith, with the old avatar, and probably always will. Liz, you're f++&ing rad! Thank you for having been such a wonderful pillar of the best things about this community.

Jessica Price:

Jessica Price was one of the people who really made me trust Paizo. She fought hard for what she believed in, for the people she cared about, and for her own dignity. Even when I disagreed with her, I respected her unwillingness to compromise on what she thought was right. Her work with Wes Schneider on an attempt at a bias-free hiring system was so fascinating to me, and it was a treat to listen to her talk about it at panels. Jessica, thank you for raising the bar for Pathfinder and helping make it what it is today.

Wes Schneider:

Wes Schneider, I don't know if we've ever interacted to any serious extent, but everyone I've spoken to has praised your efforts to make Paizo a more inclusive company and a more progressive creative force. The Pathfinder AP series is what made Paizo what it is today, and before that, Dragon magazine was what made me, well, who I am today. Thank you for making both of them so fantastic. I was around for the last year or so of Dragon magazine, and it was so, so very important to me that I got to be subscribed for even that short span of time. Special shoutout to the Music in D&D episode, which was both inspiring and really fun to read for Kid Kobold Cleaver.

Gary Teter:

I'm not going to make this whole post read to people in a goofy cartoon voice by saying the sm-word, but that whole prank is legitimately one of the funniest things to ever happen to me, and it was such a cute, silly way to engage with my absurd antics. Sorry I was such a brat about it at the time! I always worried that it was my drama that made the April Fools Day pranks stop, even though I know that's absurd. You put a lot of fun ridiculous energy into the messageboards. Thanks for being the best Postmonster a community like this could ask for.

Crystal Frasier:

Crystal Frasier, honestly, I only learned some of the coolest things about you after you left Paizo. You draw beautiful art and were incredibly witty and fun to talk to on the forums. I've basically never heard anything but praise and respect towards you. I remember that first blog post, and I remember how utterly delightful I thought the little comics of your "goblinsona" were. Honestly, that sense of humor--like the "goblins in the wires" images we'd get when the site was down--was an iconic part of what made Paizo Paizo to me. Your blog posts were really funny and really engaging, and I almost never read Paizo Blog posts until that point. Thank you for bringing so much fun and joy to Paizo, and honestly, I really need to read "Cheer Up!". :P

Okay, I'm sure there's more, but that's all I got for now. This started as me just wanting to improve the overall energy of the discourse right now and point things in a better direction, but honestly became really cathartic for me.

I know not everyone I posted about will likely see this thread, so I'll try to actually send emails or something out when I have the time and the energy and the non-crippling-shyness. I'm also sorry that I don't know enough to praise everyone working at Paizo, haha! I'm out of touch these days, and I'm also a terrible ditz.

Also, while I'm being all nostalgic and positive, big shoutouts to Ashiel, Mikaze, Freehold DM, Celestial Healer, Tacticslion, Radavel, emperor7, Heathansson, Courtfool, Ambrosia Slaad, TOZ, CrystalSeas, DMCal, Doodlebug Anklebiter, Dogbladewarrior, Fake Healer, Dragonborn3, Kelsey MacAilbert, James Sutter, Amber Stewart, Cosmo, Hugo Solis, Adam Daigle, Steve Geddes, Umbral Reaver, thejeff, Mark Hoover, that guy with the gorgon avatar, Dungeon Grrrl, Limeylongears, lynora, Aubrey the Malformed, Patrick Curtain, Crimson Jester, big time Kalindlara, Rysky, Sharoth, Captain Yesterday's Avatar, and Sebastian, among countless others. This weird list is not comprehensive or curated or anything. It's just people I have on my mind right now for random arbitrary reasons who are or have been, like, important to how I view the community. Thanks for making these messageboards what they are today.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Okay, also, because I do want everyone to understand just what Gary Teter did, a quick self-indulgent tangent: On Smurfril Smurf's Day, smurf thousand and smurf, Gary Teter smurfed the smurf so that anyobody who smurfed smurf would smurf their smurfatar smurfed smurfto a random smurf. I made a lot of smurf and smurf about it, creating no smurfage of smurf, and so the smurf year, Smurfy Smurfer made one additional modismurfication to the system.

Anyways, yeah. Back to the matter at hand.

[Steve Geddes]

You’re a blessing to the community, Kobold Cleaver.

[thejeff]

It is good to smurf you around again, even under these circumstances.

[Mergy]

This is really kind. And I appreciate how you called out all the smurfing going on.

[Yoshua]

Not understanding the smurf stuff....

[the Smurfoz]

When the smurfs descend, the thread is done.

[Kobold Catgirl]

thejeff wrote:

It is good to see you around again, even under these circumstances.

It's good to see you too! I've actually seen you on the Dumbing of Age comments section, I think, which is always funny to me--not least because we almost always disagree, and it's just a fun contrast. XD

[Yoshua]

but I do dig that I am papa smurf is the smurfatar random?

Indeed it smurfing random!

[Cori Marie]

It's just a fun little thing Gary did for April Fool's day one year, and it was beloved so it stuck. I'm mostly jealous of Cleaver's custom Smurf

[Kobold Catgirl]

Yoshua wrote:

but I do dig that I am papa smurf is the smurfatar random?

Indeed it smurfing random!

Unless you're me, yes. Though I am working on a national letter-writing campaign to drag Teter out of retirement so he can implement a Smurfette Cleaver. ;)

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

*snip*

Anyways, yeah. Back to the matter at hand.

HOW did you get the blue kobold rather than the gnome wannabes? I suddenly find myself needing this in my life, like, right now.

:>

[captain yesterday]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Hi, all.

I hope this is the right subforum from this; it seemed appropriate. We've been arguing a lot lately about the issues Paizo's facing, but everyone seems to be in consensus about one thing: We care about the people who make Paizo great and want them to be okay through all this.

A lot of people have said that a good thing to do is contact your favorite staffer, or ex-staffer, with some kind words. I kind of want to encourage that kind of constructive positivity amid all of this. Truly, I want it to be a part of the process here: It's easy to do battle with the bad things, but it's just as important to bring kindness to the good things, isn't it?

So here's the place to talk about the nice things you've been sending their way. Or just say the nice things here, if you don't know how best to send them or feel shy about doing so! That's, um, what I'm doing for the time being. :P

Please don't use this thread to snipe. It's just not the place for it. Also, if a thread like this already exists, I will not apologize, I demand control over all the threads, I will be the center of attention, I can no longer be contained and I will assimilate all who dare sorry, yeah, my bad, I didn't see it on my cursory scan. <3

Anyways, I'll start. I'm honestly not the best person to start, because I actually haven't interacted a ton with Paizo staff in a long time, but I do have some names off the top of my head to at least kick things off with.

** spoiler omitted **...

That's okay, my feelings aren't hurt or anything.

Turns around so no one can see me cry.

[Leg o' Lamb]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Yoshua wrote:

but I do dig that I am papa smurf is the smurfatar random?

Indeed it smurfing random!

Unless you're me, yes. Though I am working on a national letter-writing campaign to drag Teter out of retirement so he can implement a Smurfette Cleaver. ;)

I'll add my pen to that campaign.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Okay, also, because I do want everyone to understand just what Gary Teter did, a quick self-indulgent tangent: On April Fool's Day, 2006, Gary Teter modified the site so that anyobody[sic] who posted "sm__f" would find their avatar changed into a random you-know-what. I made a lot of hustle and bustle about it, creating no shortage of fuss, and so in 2008, Gary Teter made one additional modification to the system.

I feel my original explanation was fairly clear. :)

(He also worked a similar joke on Sebastian, a prevalent poster known for, as I understand it, sometimes coming across as a tiny bit full-of-himself. See if you can spot the tweaks Teter made!)

Also, Captain, I actually kept meaning to add the name and forgetting. Three separate times. But don't worry, I'm adding a certain community icon now. <3

[captain yesterday]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Okay, also, because I do want everyone to understand just what Gary Teter did, a quick self-indulgent tangent: On April Fool's Day, 2006, Gary Teter modified the site so that anyobody[sic] who posted "sm__f" would find their avatar changed into a random you-know-what. I made a lot of hustle and bustle about it, creating no shortage of fuss, and so in 2008, Gary Teter made one additional modification to the system.

I feel my original explanation was fairly clear. :)

Also, Captain, I actually kept meaning to add the name and forgetting. Three separate times. But don't worry, I'm adding a certain community icon now. <3

Wait, we have you to thank for the smurfing to stay!

adds Kobold Cleaver efigy to the pile of false idols I plan on worshipping someday in order to get out of being cast on The Walking Dead.

Great, now all I can think about is the inevitable Smurfs -The Walking Dead Christmas crossover special.

[James Jacobs]

This is my favorite new thread of the month. Maybe the year. Thank you. The world needs more kindness.

[Kobold Catgirl]

No, no, the prank was already sticking around when I started making a fuss. ;)

Anyways, back on-topic:

Cosmo:

I had the tremendous privilege of playing in a single game run by Cosmo at the last PaizoCon I went to. I still have my clown nose somewhere. It was some of the most fun I've ever had at a PaizoCon, and I still laugh whenever I hear the first few chords to "Funkytown" (or "Send Me On My Way", which for some reason I always get confused with "Funkytown"). He was a viciously cruel GM in the nicest possible way. He will always be yet another iconic face from the forums, and he seems like such a funny, likable person. I'm glad we got to meet at least once or twice, even though I was super intimidated at the time! All I can say is thank y--er, well, um, actually, to put this in terms Cosmo will understand:

Cosmo, it's your fault the forums are so much fun, and it's your fault I enjoyed that PaizoCon. I'm deeply disappointed in you for bringing such positive, noble, Chaotic Good joy to this community. For shame.

Also shoutout to Majuba, gah, I already regret even trying to begin to list the countless messageboard faces I appreciate. Thanks to Majuba and their partner for all the delicious goblin brains! Genuine literal legends.

[Yoshua]

Smurfette appears to be one of the more common smurfs. Grumpy Smurf is the most iconic smurf that ever smurfed though.

[Mergy]

Leg o' Lamb wrote:

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Yoshua wrote:

but I do dig that I am papa smurf is the smurfatar random?

Indeed it smurfing random!

Unless you're me, yes. Though I am working on a national letter-writing campaign to drag Teter out of retirement so he can implement a Smurfette Cleaver. ;)

I'll add my pen to that campaign.

Wait, how do you get Smurfette? I have smurf jealousy.

EDIT: just. like. this.

[Nathan Nasif]

Thank you to all of you at Paizo, and thank you Kobold Cleaved for thus thread!

Also... Smurf...

I've been here forever, yet I don't think I've ever done this before...

[Nathan Nasif]

Thank you to all of you at Paizo, and thank you Kobold Cleaved for this thread!

Also... smurf...

I've been here forever, yet I don't think I've ever done this before...

[Kobold Catgirl]

*refreshing the first post every ten seconds, screaming internally*

While I wait, something constructive...

Amber Stewart:

I'm honestly anguished that my Dragon magazine collection is back at my folks' place, because Dragon magazine meant so much to me and I'd love to go into specifics about what she wrote, but I've got a few I remember: Ecology of the Keeper totally changed my opinion on the keeper, elevating it from a weird confused mishmash construct in my eyes to genuinely one of the most chilling and fascinating monsters in D&D. It's brilliantly written, evocative, and really, really scary. She worked out what was cool about the monster and fleshed that out so we could all see it, too, which is exactly what a good Ecology article should do.

I also loved Multiple Dementia, though I needed a quick brush-up to remember it because that particular Dragon issue usually stayed carefully tucked away so my parents wouldn't see the cover. Multiple Dementia was such a huge source of inspiration for me at the time, and had so many cool, clever ideas for demiplanes. Honestly, I want to go back and reread it now.

Also, she's just made really cool contributions on the forums! I actually found one of her wonderfully thought-provoking old posts while I was looking for quick acknowledgements, and I was so embarrassed at not remembering to give her a full "thank you" that I quickly put her name in the "quick list" without even thinking twice. The post I saw was her talking about her complicated relationship with gender, and it struck a chord. I'm so, so glad people like her have been contributing to Paizo since the early days.

Also, a quick apology to Wes Schneider--I am not actually sure if he wrote the "music in D&D" article. An article I'm seeing says it was Jose Montero, which, hey, awesome job to them! That said, Wes's role in editing some of my favorite Dragon issues is still really appreciated. I'm thinking of the Astrology issue, which has such beautiful, tight thematic coherence across its articles that it inspired little tiny child Kobold Cleaver's first bumbling attempt at a novel. I had to actually hunt down that issue, because it came out just before I subscribed. It's a big part of why I subscribed, actually.

Gosh, though, who put me in charge of these thank-yous? I am factually a clown when it comes to remembering who wrote what.

[Sunderstone]

This thread is Smurf-tastic!

[WormysQueue]

I named Amber as on of my favorite authors in 2009 and I still stand by that. Not only did I seriously love her contributions to the Planeescape setting as Shemeska the Marauder, she also (co-)wrote some of my favorite Golarion-based books (Great Beyond, Heart of the Jungle).

And wait, did she also appeared in Dragon's Astrology issue. With that, I mostly keep thinking Hal McLean, so i have to go back to check that out.

And with all the nostalgia going on, let me give a huge shout out to wherever Mike McArtor happens to be right now, He was one of the early cornerstones of this community, I loved his presence on these boards, he was crucial in making me fall in love with the comm and I love his works for Paizo. I still haven't completely forgiven Paizo to retcon his early article on Dragons out of Golarion history.

Still miss him.

Also want to thank Heather F. for staying level-headed when everyone else is having difficulties to do so. She's doing an awesome job with forum moderation and if she goes through with her plan she hinted at in one of the threads, I just want to ensure her that even joining me as a fellow bald-head, she'd still be a much more beautiful person than I am.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Oh, gosh, I forgot about Mike McCartor. And then I had to Google to remember why I haven't seen him around in such a while. :(

[James Jacobs]

Mike McArtor passed away many years ago. I still miss him to this day.

[Kobold Catgirl]

He seemed like a wonderfully funny, creative guy. I'm glad we got to know him. I'm really sorry he's gone.

[Sad TOZ]

Yeah.

[WormysQueue]

autocorrect: just saw that you were talkin Wes, not Amber about the Astrology issue. Still one of my favorite Dragon issues of all times. God, do I miss this magazine.

And sorry If I brought up sad memories. But his levity made me laugh so often at what was probably the worst time of my life, so I owe him a lot, and I wasn't able to tell him at that time. So I think he truly deserves to be part of this thread.

[James Jacobs]

WormysQueue wrote:

autocorrect: just saw that you were talkin Wes, not Amber about the Astrology issue. Still one of my favorite Dragon issues of all times. God, do I miss this magazine.

And sorry If I brought up sad memories. But his levity made me laugh so often at what was probably the worst time of my life, so I owe him a lot, and I wasn't able to tell him at that time. So I think he truly deserves to be part of this thread.

Sad memories, yes, but far more happy memories, like the day I found out Mike had never seen Jaws and showed it to him that night, or working with him to create Korvosa, or the time when he ran a campaign for all of us at Paizo where the only rule for PCs was "you can't play anything that could be mistaken for a human," or his murder-crazed gnome Frothlethimble in Erik's Age of Worms campaign, and on and on and on.

Invoking his name is 100% on brand for a "Sending Kindness Around" thread.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Dragon and Dungeon were from an incredible era of periodicals that I almost entirely missed. For the year or so before the end that I was subscribed, though, I looked forward to every issue with rampant glee, running out to the mailbox every day to see if it had arrived yet. Honestly, a lot of Dungeon magazine's appeal was lost on me back then, but nowadays the idea of receiving three totally creative, original, setting-neutral adventures every month sounds even more fantastical.

I always wanted to submit something to Dragon, more than anything. Mike McCartor was a big inspiration for me in that, I think. I have a lot to be embarrassed about in the one letter I actually got into Scale Mail, but I'm still glad I got something into that magazine, right at the last issue.

[captain yesterday]

True story! The guide to korvosa was the first book I bought from Pathfinder as I was looking for a city to throw in my campaign and I loved it so much I immediately switched over to Pathfinder and got the River Kingdoms book.

[Cintra Bristol]

Kobold Cleaver, thank you so much for starting this thread!

And thank you to all the folks at Paizo (past and present), for creating and nurturing this passionate, crazy, awesome community - and for all the cool products you publish, too!

[Kobold Catgirl]

By the way, James, I'm honestly feeling very frazzled by writing all this stuff out, I'm not trying to snub you or anything I promise. That said, I do want to say--

I have a lot of appreciation for how you've always been available and honest with people on these forums. People didn't always use the Ask James Jacobs thread for good, and heck, I think I myself might have tried to start an argument or two when I was younger (probably about kobold PCs, I used to be really into kobolds, fun secret fact about me nobody else knows), but it was a really cool and valuable resource. You put a lot of thought into communicating clearly and respectfully, and it's part of what's always allowed Paizo to build such a wonderful, constructive atmosphere on these forums. It's really neat to see it explained why a rule is this way or that way, or why the setting went in Direction A or Direction B, or why the company chose to sell something or other.

What I'm getting at is we appreciate you a lot! Thank you for always taking the time to talk to us little monsters.

EDIT: okay so I said "hey so I'm too tired to write any more of these" and then I sort of went and wrote another anyways, so I might as well also add that I adored Classic Monsters Revisited (I'm pretty sure it's where the "kobolds taste disgusting" fact comes from, and I reference that weirdly often), the 3.5 Fiend Folio (one of my very favorite "monster books", the Dragon Ecologies compendium (edited by McCartor, Jacobs and Schneider, so kind of a perfect storm of great work done there), the Demonomicon series in general (especially Dagon, Zugggtmoy, Kostchtchie and Malcanthet), and the Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss. You've worked on too much Pathfinder stuff to even get started on, but you have done some genuinely gorgeous work.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Honestly, what kills me about Dragon and Dungeon being dead is that when I go back to read them, a very common feeling I get is, "well, this bit didn't age so well".

But that's always followed immediately by, "God, these magazines would be so fantastic if they came out today, now that everyone's more alert to those kinds of problems, now that there's such a diverse pool of wildly creative new talent to draw from." The talent pool was far from stagnant in Dragon's final days, but nowadays there's just so much more. I want to live in a world where creators like Isabelle Thorne could get the chance to write articles for those magazines, one where the established creators could hear from a few more voices and improve their work with the extra context. aaah

Okay, I'm done. In fact, I'm going to take a couple hours off posting, because I don't know if it comes across, but I am a tiny kobold-shaped rubber band ball of tension and anxiety right now. This thread week was a lot.

[Amber_Stewart]

OMG this thread is awesome!

Thank you so much Kobold Cleaver and WormysQueue for your kind words! I'm absolutely humbled that you and others have enjoyed my work over the years. I'm still shocked that I've ever been able to write anything for publication since I didn't do any fiction writing until grad school, I come from a hard science background, and I originally pitched stuff to Dragon and Dungeon magazines on a complete lark, not thinking that I'd even get a glance, but years later and here we are! I've loved every project that Paizo has graciously let me work on, and I've adored every bit of planar content (and non-planar content too!) that I've been able to write for Pathfinder, and I absolutely hope to continue writing similar stuff in the future!

I don't usually hear much feedback on stuff I write, so I genuinely treasure any level of feedback, even harsh critique if it's honestly written (for instance I still haven't gotten a review on my first AP entry ;_;).

Man, now I just have a laundry list of things in my head that I want to write more of for publication.

[Amber_Stewart]

And big thank you for Wes Schneider back in the day giving me my first chance in Dragon Magazine, and then, after I'd submitted my first draft, he wrote me back explaining how to avoid using passive voice (because that's default in scientific writing but not in fiction and I'd quite literally never learned or even taken a creative writing class in college). I wouldn't be here if he hadn't given me the chance and then taking the time to teach me something I needed to know. <3

Also a huge nostalgic thank you to Mike McArtor for writing the outline for one of my first Pathfinder projects, the original Osirion book that I worked on with Jason Nelson. Mike was awesome and he is missed.

[Evan Tarlton]

We're praising Cosmo? What is this smurfing world coming to?

Seriously, though: thanks, Kobold Cleaver. I think we all needed this. I know I did.

[Umbral Reaver]

Thanks. Not really in a state to say much more than that, sorry.

[Berhagen]

This thread is smurfing great, also as a long time lurker (previous poster), who likes the positive attitude!

[WormysQueue]

Amber_Stewart wrote:

I don't usually hear much feedback on stuff I write, so I genuinely treasure any level of feedback, even harsh critique if it's honestly written (for instance I still haven't gotten a review on my first AP entry ;_;).

First, you absolutely deserve any praise you get. Not only have I enjoyed the content you created, but also your positive presence here on the boards.

And yeah about that review thing. That's something I would want to do much more often to be honest (and I used to for a German messageboard some years ago). Totally agree that it is a good way to give the creators feedback and appreciate what they are doing. Still haven't found the best way between wanting to give really detailed reviews (kinda like Enzeitgeist is doing) and not really having the time to do so. The few I've done here about smaller products might give an indication what it would look like for an AP issue.

It's not even funny anymore how many reviews I started and never finished because I got distracted by the next new shiny thing. Definitely need to get better about this.

[Porridge]

Amber_Stewart wrote:

I don't usually hear much feedback on stuff I write

I *loved* your article on Gluttondark in Assault on Hunting Lodge Seven. Really imaginative and evocative and alien, with lots of juicy adventure hooks.

[Lonesomechunk]

I just wanted to say I basically wholeheartedly agree with the stuff kobold cleaver mentioned, honestly I don't feel like I could say it as well as they did lol. I'm super grateful as well for how far the people working at paizo have come and it shows in their products, working with diverse voices to create products like the Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse and including so much LGBT diversity in the Lost Omens Legends books really make me feel at home and is much improved from the early days (im sorry I don't know the names of who is responsible for the representation, but im sure there were many wonderful and talented people involved and im incredibly thankful for all of them). The reason I've been so passionate about the recent stuff going on is because I genuinely honestly wish for the best for all paizo employees, not just the wonderful writers and artists, but the editors, customer service, the people who work hard to get the products shipped and to our homes....the list goes on.

Golarion means a lot to me, and I want to continue supporting it and the many wonderful people who take part in its creation. I simply hope that things improve for you all because y'all deserve the best

[Kobold Catgirl]

For the record, if anyone would like to offer their praise for other Paizo staff members, I'd love to see it posted here. I myself never meant to offer more than a couple thank-yous, and in fact, I truly hope nobody felt deliberately snubbed when I got carried away. That was one of my biggest anxieties about being the one to start this thread. I don't always follow staff blogs or new products, nor am I involved in PFS, so I'm pretty out of the loop these days. I named a bunch of people who were on my mind who I've had at least a decent number of interactions with, but I could never do a comprehensive list on my own.

If anybody has anything they'd like to say in support of Paizo staffers, past or present, feel free to share! The only request I'll make is to avoid backhanded compliments. You can't compliment one person by insulting another, after all, and I want this to be a welcoming space to all. <3