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We are not done yet

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We are here once again, aren't we? TheBoss has announced his resignation from GamingOnLinux.com and it's once again up to us to figure out where to go from here. The past few months have been quite bumpy and obviously this is going to throw some wrenches into our gears.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Liam leaving us is a massive hit and it's going to take a lot of doing to get back on track once again but I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I believe GOL is an important resource to Linux gamers both old and new and also game developers who want to create Linux ports and interact with the Linux community. We've been an up-to-date news website and in addition to just reporting new releases we have also highlighted issues in Linux ports and Linux gaming in general and helped to fix those issues, even if by a little bit. The IRC and our forums have seen all kinds of people wanting help with problems they've encountered or simply asking for someone to play some awesome games with.

In a nutshell: GOL has become something bigger and better many of us probably expected. To me it's simply too important to simply call “GG” and give up. Luckily we already have a battle plan to get through this but it requires everyone's efforts.

We are going to turn GOL into a community-oriented website. This means that we are going to rely more on you, the community. Liam has put a lot more effort into this website than any single one of us can and thus it's necessary for us to work together to patch the hole that has appeared on the side of this website. If you find a topic you want to write an article about or a game release we haven't reported, please do familiarize yourself with the “Submit Article” button on the sidebar. Naturally you won't go unrewarded. If you write enough good quality articles you will be given a rank of Contributing Editor and eventually you will be promoted to full Editor status. These ranks give you all of the privileges of GOL Supporters free of charge. Most of the internal communication is going to be handled through the IRC channel, so head there if you want to ask questions or need help with submitting articles. Or if you simply want to chat, it's the right place for that too.

I'm going to stay loyal to this website and continue writing articles (mainly the GOL Casts), moderate the forums/comments and try to keep us organized on the IRC to the best of my ability. School takes up a lot of my free time though, so you can't expect me to publish more than one or two articles of my own per week. What I can do is check and publish user submitted articles on the queue which I will try to monitor daily.

I'm going to hold a livestream on Friday at 5 PM UTC at http://www.twitch.tv/gamingonlinux where you can join in on the discussion and hopefully we can make some sense out of this situation. With your help I'm sure we can pull through but some changes are inevitable. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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About the author -
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I'm a Linux gamer from Finland. I like reading, long walks on the beach, dying repeatedly in roguelikes and ripping and tearing in FPS games. I also sometimes write code and sometimes that includes hobbyist game development.
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59 comments
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WorMzy Oct 7, 2014
Liam leaving really is a sad thing to happen, but it would be even worse for GOL to throw in the towel.

So long as articles are being written, I will keep donating (although I suppose I should switch over to this newfangled funding thing, rather than direct paypal payments).

I hope the GOL community can pull together and get through this. :)
Teal Oct 7, 2014
Good luck guys, I hope this gonna keep going, I like this place.
flesk Oct 7, 2014
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I don't have a ton of available time either but I'll do my best to write at least an article or two per week. I have one coming up in a couple of days but it's admittedly a bit niche. This site and its community are too good to die.
Apopas Oct 7, 2014
But is Liam agreed to pass the ownership of the site to the community?
psymin Oct 7, 2014
My question regarding the future of the site and Liam being gone is: Where will the ongoing Patreon funds be going? I'd like to see the funds going towards keeping the site running, etc.

I have no plans on changing my Patreon pledge any time soon. I just like asking questions :)
Samsai Oct 7, 2014
But is Liam agreed to pass the ownership of the site to the community?
Yes, he has shown green light to the community-focus on Reddit and in a private message to me. And while the change sounds big, all the features and systems to implement it have been in place even before we had to think about things like this. Liam remains as the official owner of GOL but in his absence I am going to assume "control" with the other editors for now.
rodvil Oct 7, 2014
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I love this site, its my only source of information regarding Linux Games. I do hope you manage to keep going and maybe sometime I can find the time to contribute.
Keep it up!
edo Oct 7, 2014
Liam leaves? I guess the trolls won this time.
I hope GOL people still worry about contacting devs directly about linux gaming stuff, like it has been for the moment.
I wish Liam returns in some point in the future. And of course, we all want to see GOL even better than ever.
Metallinatus Oct 7, 2014
Wow, that was sudden.... and sad :/
I hope the site stays strong.... and I will try to build courage to press that "Submit Article" button when I think a game needs some attention.... I do want to be useful somehow!
Good luck with your new position, Samsai!
EKRboi Oct 7, 2014
Holy WTF... Glad things are going to continue. I am also glad that I didn't even know who those linux game cast fools, or their website were in the first place. Sad Liam will be leaving, he always seemed like a stand up guy. Read a post from the systemd guy (Lennart Poettering)yesterday (phoronix) that some seem to love to really hate. Between that and what i've read today I am a little bit sick I think. It's really gross. The "inner" OSS community is a nasty little bunch, I like the way an article Liam posted on twitter put it.. "vagina repellants" lol

Ill try to help out! I'll hop on IRC this evening and lurk for a while and try to get an idea of where things are going. I DO NOT want to see this site go ANYWHERE, it has quickly become one of my favorite places, and I even REALLY like most of you from what I have gathered in my short time here. Sure some of us may feel and express ourselves differently.. but what I liked is that at the end of the post, it was like a fresh slate with the next one. If I and person X had it out over something dumb for sh*ts n giggles in one thread.. we could completely be on the same page in the next with no grudge from the previous. That's how it needs to stay IMO. When things get childish it sucks the fun out of it. Its one of the main reasons I have never made an acct on Phoronix.. too many idiots over there.
Waikano Oct 7, 2014
And I just discovered Linux Gaming..was just going to try it out for a year, then I discovered this website added them to my Feedly...now I rarely even boot into my Windows Machine... :-/ I hope this community effort works out.
Shmerl Oct 7, 2014
It's a pity that some hatefull trolls caused Liam to quit. I guess it's not easy to ignore their ilk. I discovered GOL relatively recently and appreciate all the good work that GOL did to cover developments surrounding the Linux gaming. I hope those who value it will help keep it going with more contributed articles.
Apopas Oct 7, 2014
Its one of the main reasons I have never made an acct on Phoronix.. too many idiots over there.
And too many great guys with deep knowledge of technology. Who cares for the idiots?
Apopas Oct 7, 2014
But is Liam agreed to pass the ownership of the site to the community?
Yes, he has shown green light to the community-focus on Reddit and in a private message to me... Liam remains as the official owner of GOL but in his absence I am going to assume "control" with the other editors for now.
The things are not so simple however. If the site is going to be run by the community, then the community needs an official statement about where the money from the supporters go, how are we gonna pay the bills and what happens if ever Liam decides to return. IMHO it will be very beneficial for the site if Liam quits from every ownership claim and passes it officially to a team, because people tend to offer their wallets easier toward an organization or an idea rather than toward a physical person.
I'm all for an absolutely community driven GOL.
sub Oct 7, 2014
Liam stepping back even made it to almighty Phoronix:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTgwNjg
Hamish Oct 7, 2014
Personally I will try to get more involved with GoL again, but I must admit that my interest in Linux gaming has actually been waning for the past year or so making it difficult for me to put in the effort.

I do have several reviews that are half-written, and several articles that I do want to write, but I have been spending so little time playing games and have largely lost interest in most upcoming titles to the extent that I must admit to being something of a dead weight on here. To be honest I was much more interested in the Linux gaming scene two years ago than I am today.

I will try and get more involved again with editing and approving submissions since that should hopefully be a growth area, and I will try to get at least one more of my hefty articles published within the next two weeks, but with other things like the farm and my other writing taking up my time, not to mention the fact that I have a girlfriend now, we will just have to see how much time I have left to devote to this.

Not the most helpful thing I could write, but it is the truth. Hopefully I can pull the rag out and get some of my backlog published.
Liam Dawe Oct 7, 2014
I feel the need to chime in this once on the topic.

Any funds taken from Patreon will still be used towards GamingOnLinux, only now with the funds distributed as needed to any editors that step up towards games, hardware, whatever as needed.

I urge anyone not comfortable with anything to remove their pledges. No hard feelings, as it's of course your money. I will also update my own article to reflect this, and the Patreon has already been updated directly.

I will still be dealing with the accounting as I am the owner, so turning on GOL Premium for people, sites coding, hosting issues etc. I just quit writing articles as I'm crap at PR and taking the shit from people.
Tux1c Oct 7, 2014
I am really glad the site continues to live on, and really sad Liam is leaving.
I just have one little (maybe inappropriate?) question.
I've sent a mail yesterday, and I guess it got forwarded to Liam, as he now leaves GOL, what's up with my tip? Is he going to forward it to you guys or should I re-send?
Liam Dawe Oct 7, 2014
Anything sent to me is sent onto Samsai.
EKRboi Oct 7, 2014
Its one of the main reasons I have never made an acct on Phoronix.. too many idiots over there.
And too many great guys with deep knowledge of technology. Who cares for the idiots?

I didn't say I don't read the site or that I don't scroll the comments from time to time, but I have 0 desire to get involved in the comment section of the articles over there. Too much "sh*tMD", NvidiaSux", "Screw Michael, he sux" "OMFG KILL Poettering, HES KILLING LINUX".. that's the crap I'm talking about, the "type" of crap that has Liam "leaving" us. I'm not talking about the content of the articles, and I actually like Michael from what I "know" of him.

EDIT* I hope to see Liam pop his head in and comment with us. This whole thing took me by COMPLETE surprise.. I had no idea he was catching crap from trolls that I had never even heard of.
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