the dream began as I received consecutive notifications, in which my karma surged to -14. Team Rocket Elite contacted me on AIM after this happened, and I did not immediately respond as I had been preparing an appeal brief for one specific post, which had cost me 10 karma points. the post was over two years old and consisted of 'f*** you' to OmarsComing. my argument was, that because the post was so old the points would have rolled off by now, and etc. but once my karma soared up to -14 it was clear that I had to struggle through other means.
and so I got to talking to TRE, and we hammered out a plan. though the decision whether or not to perma-ban me was entirely his, we would take a vote of the Board 8 Community. if less than 1/2 of the Community felt I should be allowed to stay, I would be banned. if between 1/2 and 2/3 felt I should be allowed to stay, the decision would officially again rest with TRE, but barring extraordinary circumstances he would still go through with the ban. and if I got the support of more than 2/3, he would allow me to stay after a five-day suspension.
first off, let me point out that Board 8 was a physical place for most of my dream. kind of like a market place, but more of a sense of community. most of you were in physical form, though I can't comment on what you "looked like", it didn't much work like that.
as the voting began my hopes were very, very slender. the universal expectation was that I was done for. the early votes coming in suggested I had a good chance to get close to the 50% threshold, but no more. I encouraged those of you who were obviously my supporters to vote stuff on my behalf but they didn't listen. nor did I succumb to the temptation to vote stuff on my own when nobody was looking.
as defeat seemed inevitable I became very emotional and began preparing a concession speech, if you will. lobbying TRE to exercise his power in my favor within the 50-67% range was not on my radar. those around me suggested my emotions were feigned, but with no regard I pressed on. I even tried to see the positive in it: I could now devote myself to other tasks, life is like a series of seasons and the sun has set on Board 8 for me, and so on.
at last the vote counting was to come. everyone crowded around, and somehow I was given the ignominious task of having to tally the results on the blackboard, as if digging my own grave.
two tallies were produced. the first, I won 19-8. but I had the support of six users who had since been suspended or banned. so not counting those, I was at 13-8, which of course would put the decision in TRE's hands. there was much hubbub about which tally should count and so on. but this question was never answered. TRE announced, without expressly declaring which tally he considered to be valid, that as per the results of the balloting, I would not be banned and would only serve a short suspension.
I restrained my jubliance and felt a pang of gratefulness, especially to those moderators and enemies who turned out to my side against all odds (Leonhart and nintendogirl and Weakupedia voted against the ban). I did announce my intention to reduce my presence on Board 8 in the coming months before heading off to get a salad for lunch.