January 16th, 2009

The Souls In Exile's leadership, a group of people known as "The Grand Council" had a free hosting agreement with me, Phil Hilton, for web, database, web based clan administration tools, game statistics, fast map download and ventrilo voice server hosting. The group which made up "The Grand Council" has disbanded. As a group they presented a competent set of leaders with integrity and accountability, which functioned to represent the clan as a whole and operate in a fair manner. Because that group has disbanded and only one person remains, that agreement to provide free hosting is no longer in effect. I had an agreement with a group leadership committee, and not with a single person.

That single person is the same one who just a week ago attempted to forcibly remove the other members, and after I noted that doing so would void the hosting agreement reinstated them only long enough to ask them to leave. The same person who up until 2 months ago did virtually nothing to help the rest of the Grand Council. Who chose not to work at getting the rest of the Grand Council to contribute, but suggested that they simply step down, leaving the clan in his hands only.

Well... That means that the group I had agreed to provide free hosting to isn't around anymore. It's not a group of responsible people who are working to maintain a great community. It's one guy who rejects responsibility and accountability. That is not a person I wish to offer free services to. I'm disappointed in him. I'm disappointed in the other Grand Council members who chose to abandon the clan and not stand up for the organization and integrity that took so long to put in place. I'm disappointed that when I was a member of that group I did not see these flaws in all three of them which would leave it in this mess. Most of all, I'm sorry for those of you who are just trying to have a good time playing games you love on the net. A lot of people have let you down. Myself included.

The clan is what it is, however, and it is not an entity which I can honestly say I think has organization, good leadership, and accountability, and thus integrity. As such it not one which I want to give of my own time and resources to, and I am choosing not to extend an offer of free hosting to the one person who remains in a leadership position.

I wish nothing but the best to those of you who remain. I suspect that those who are clinging to what is left will be disappointed, however. Hopefully I am wrong.

With Regrets,
Phil "RiscIt" Hilton

Some of the many questions my inbox has been hit with recently... (Seriously - Please stop. I am not the person to ask.)

Question: Why are you doing this?!!? Give us time to get organized!
Answer: This is not something that has happened quickly. The last member of the Grand Council knew very well the consequences of not maintaining a solid leadership comittee. He has chosen actions which he knew would void the agreement. I am sorry for the rest of you if he was not ready to deal with results of his actions.

Question: How can I contact the remaining members of the clan?
Answer: I am aware that 2-3 members have been working on setting up new forums. If I am made aware of the address for those I will post it here for you to find.
Update: I am told that there is a temporary website here: http://www.funmonster.net/clantempsite/

Update 2: Seems to have been moved here: http://www.legendariesclan.com/
and a few folks can be found over here: http://forum.six.thegentclub.com/
and here: http://kaas.uuuq.com/
and here: http://z8.invisionfree.com/Zombie_Syndicate/.

Question: Is the clan closing?
Answer: I'm not sure. It's certainly not the clan it once was, in any case. You should get ahold of the old members to find out more.
Update: I have been informed that the clan has indeed been shut down, and the old members are scattered across 3-4 new clans, or have opted to not be affiliated with a clan.

Question: Are the clan servers closing?
Answer: I suspect not, but you should ask the remaining members to find out more.

Question: I made a donation to the clan recently. What happened to that?
Answer: I don't know. Donations made to the clan go in to a private GameServers.com account in the name of David Boivin, the last remaining Grand Council member. Your money is now his to spend on whatever game servers he pleases. This is one of the accountability issues of there only being 1 person leading the clan. When I was last aware of it, there was over $400.00 in that account. I believe that money is non-refundable and can only be spent on GameServers.com services. If you want it back you can attempt to contact David yourself or plead your case to GameServers.com.

Question: Can I have the SoulsInExile.com domain name?
Answer: No. Three different people have approached me asking for it, as of this writing. Because the clan is officially broken up and it's members scatterred about, no single group or person has any more right to it than another. So rather than listen to people attempt to convince me that they or their group is more deserving of it than another entity I am simply going to hold on to it. I registered it initially, I've paid for it ever since, and retaining it as is preserves this message so that anyone looking for the clan in the future will at least find this information and know what happened. To be clear: The SoulsInExile.com domain name is not available. Do not ask for it. It will be preserved as is through 2009 and possibly longer.

Question: I have a question not mentioned here.
Answer: Find someone who's actually a remaining member and ask them. They have more information than I do. Sorry.


Last Update: 11-FEB-2009