I don't think I can say there's been a day yet where Windos hasn't participated in at least one if not more competitions. Always abuzz, Windos has been consistent, energetic, and prolific in his domination of all forms of competitions throughout both the Brotherhood and Clan levels.
Another often unsung hero of the Clan, Windos is quiet, but dedicated, popping by the Discord to share his latest creations or talk gaming before disappearing into the ether once more to absolutely destroy the competition board. His sporadic visits a reminder of the good humor and interesting person behind Dossier.
This promotion is well earned, Windos, with your constant activity and dedication to the Clan. I look forward to where you'll climb from here, but knowing where you've been already, I know it won't be long before you reach your next checkpoint.
Peacekeeper Masahiro Haku, 2024-05-21 03:34:41 UTC
While Windos and I have technically overlapped in COU by several years, he had really settled into a quiet retirement by the time I started stomping around and I had left for the DC by the time he made his glorious return. So this is a weird recommendation, because on the one hand I barely know him, but on the other, I've often found myself trying to pick up from where he left off. My first unit was one that he had been running just a few months earlier, Satele Shan, which he co-created with Ji. My first leadership position was as Shan's AED, a position Windos inaugurated.
More to the point, I'm currently in charge of the Shadow Academy and the Wiki, two things that Windos oversaw more than a decade ago. There are many years and a lot of hard work by HMs, T:Ws, and their staff separating his terms and mine. The SA society has been redone three times, there's been at least one full course catalogue audit, and major changes to the structure of the catalogue and staff. And yet, when we deployed the first course with embedded video just last year, that wasn't my idea. That's something that Windos wrote up in 2013 or maybe 2012, that James coded into the current SA per his specifications, but that sat unused for a decade waiting for someone to run with it. That one stands out, but most of the framework and infrastructure of the SA still comes down to what Windos and James worked out back then. That includes the very basic things but also the stuff people tend not to think about, like the settings we use to turn SA courses into GJW trivia comps.
The Wiki is the product of a few more hands; if I see some beautifully complex, ancient template, it's only sometimes Windos' doing. However, I found myself hitting him up recently as the last person to do widespread changes using a bot, a feature that was sorely missed. Even though MediaWiki has completely overhauled how that works, rendering his old system irrelevant and unusable, Windos cheerfully pointed me in the direction of a tool that I can use to do the same thing.
It's normal for sacs and EL promos to talk about "lasting impact," but rare to actually see that in recommendations. To some degree, it's not even possible except in cases, like this one, in which recognition is years overdue. So I want to make sure it's in writing this time. I like to think I'm a pretty good and impactful HM, but it's humbling to think that five HMs or ten years in the future, our HM is more likely to be relying on Windos' work than mine. It is criminal that he's not an elder already.
Alethia Archenksova
Headmistress
Headmistress Alethia Archenksova, 2024-05-21 17:38:15 UTC