Been lurking on this thread since this morning and after taking some time to sit and think about things, here is what I'm going to say.
I think the manner in which this entire situation was executed and handled was at its absolute lowest performance, and I will be forthright about it.
If you are not one for explaining yourself, that is entirely understandable. What makes it unacceptable, however, is involving the entire community and scaring them half to death with a system you chose to be rather vague about. I cannot stress enough how important it is to fully disclose something to those who are involved. They have the right to know what is going on if it affects themselves, their community, and the game they indulge themselves in on an almost daily basis. If your system does not work the way they believe it works, then it is on you to provide the correct information and enlighten everyone on the inner workings of this new implementation. It is a necessity, not a desire.
You want this game to keep running, otherwise why go through all of this trouble? Why provide a private board for a select few members to ponder over staff recruitment methods? If this is what you want, then I suggest you heed not only what I have said so far, but to everyone else who posted in this thread. Before any work or progress can be made, something needs to be done first to fix the community that is currently in shambles due to the carelessness of this situation.
Also from what I have gathered from a couple of your responses, it seems to me you haven't exactly thought some things through, which to me shows a huge flaw in your ability to manage this community. I don't intend for this to sound like an insult, but in order for something to work, you need to have every detail figured out beforehand instead of throwing something out there for others to figure out for you while simultaneously putting them and the community at risk. You have no clue how to recruit new Staff members? You should have thought of that before your actions led to the departure of the Staff team. You haven't looked into Moderator Free October yet? Why rush in getting the thread published, then? I don't understand your intentions, Raz.
As for me and my stance, I have mixed feelings about this whole thing.
I still do not agree with what you have said nor the actions you have taken. I don't believe it was fair to go through with your decision without consulting the rest of the team. I don't believe it was fair for Nynx to receive the punishment you dished out, regardless of whether or not her actions were viewed as a political stunt in your eyes. As I have said, this was - and still is - being handled poorly, and I am certain a number of things currently happening could have been prevented with proper care.
I still don't know the extent of what happened between you and the Staff team nor do I expect you to fill in those gaps for me or for anyone else, as I respect that it's a private matter. I am just distraught that things have come to this, whether you wanted them to or not. I really want this community to continue to flourish and thrive, I really do. However, I can't stop myself from feeling an ounce of dread for what you have in store. I'm sure your intentions are good, Razmirz, but the way you are handling and going about things is rather concerning. You mentioned that staff are "replaceable," and while that may be true in some cases, it certainly isn't for this one. The now retired Staff team brought out the best in the community and have poured so much of their time and effort into this single game. They were a close-knit group consisting of those with years of experience, who knew the community and the game like the backs of their hands and would do anything to keep the userbase happy. How you treated them now or in the past is apparent in their decision to band together and leave the community they likely would not have left under any normal circumstance. Now here we are, on a forum without a working team, and I can't tell if this was something you were actively working towards or not.
Again, I'm certain you still want to keep things running. Everything you've done would be meaningless if not. You realize you need a staff team to keep things working, as made evident by the purpose of this board. I won't give my thoughts on the matter in a way to avoid repeating what has already been said by others before me. Please think at least this through before taking action, Raz, as it is a long process in finding the right members fit for the duties of a staff member.
