[However, we have been seeing an increasing amount of attacks on the forum, both personal and directed at PiratesAhoy! as a group.
We have overlooked these for the most part, even though any personal issues should be kept to Private Messages and not be posted on the public board.
This message by our most long-term forum member also explains quite well why the attacks on PiratesAhoy! itself are uncalled for.
Another related issue is an attempt to use the Hearts of Oak recruitment forum for one of our member's own commercial desires,
without the team's explicit permission. This clearly indicates a conflict of interest and does not belong in a public area.
The one thing that cannot be ignored though is to compare a respected contributor to a certain notorious historical person
and subsequent attempts to publicly smear the name of said member. This is not behaviour that we expect from any member of our community,
but is especially concerning as all the above was posted by one of our own Staff Members.
The involved person should know, by now, that I have always done what I can to support him and his work and so have many other forum members.
Therefore, the decision has not been taken lightly, but after careful consideration
the remaining PiratesAhoy! Staff Members have agreed that such continued misconduct can no longer be tolerated.
We are truly sorry that it has had to come to this, but the aforementioned member is hereby banned from our community.
As always, we remain happy to support all members on this forum, old and new, wherever and whenever we can manage.
Modding on the Storm Engine games will continue to the best of our abilities, as will our development on Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas.
The only thing that we ask in return is for everybody to treat each other reasonably and respectfully.
If anyone has any valid concerns about general or personal issues, the PiratesAhoy! The staff is always willing to discuss this as reasonable people.