Dear community, Dear Alek,
As some of you may have noticed by now, Alek, our long time beloved developer, has been forced to resign his duties as he will take on a job offer as an engineer at a defense company. We are happy for Alek he was given this opportunity and want to take time to thank him in full for his service to OSBot and we are sad to see him leave.
Alek came to OSBot as a script writer, writing unbreakable scripts with the passion of a young lion, eager to learn more. We, as a team, became friends with you, Alek, and you step by step became an undismissable cornerstone of OSBot. Starting out managing the SDN, stepping up your game to manage the scripters and become a developer for the bot core modules, you literally knew every part of OSBot like no other.
Your endless energy to converse and communicate with community, albeit being a little explosive from time to time, you pulled one hell of a job. I can't really put to words what you mean for OSBot and this won't change in the future. I have to laugh when I think back to all the endless discussion and fights we had, all because you always wanted the very best for OSBot. Having someone who stands for his opinion is invaluable for a business to keep going forward.
The greatest storyies are perhaps about how you and Maldesto were always water and fire. You loved each other and at the same time you could disagree so strongly, that sparks flew everywhere. You always ended up finding a resolution. Another great story is how in Zach you found a great friend and dear mentor, from a spirtitual and emotional level to technical programming levels. It was endearing to see you guys work together, as a group of friends, with OSBot as a common goal.
I have seen you grow as a person and as a developer. A remarkable evolution, one that has brought you this job offer that will take you to the next level in life.
Alek, you knew the community, the people and understood the larger picture. You knew the bot and put yourlove, time and effort in OSBot, through good and bad times. After all you have been through in real life and the way you have fought to come up on top as a winner, I can say nothing else than that I am really proud of you for achieving what you did.
Alek, you are without a doubt the greatest guy and you will be missed sincerely. Although I know your new job forces you to resign your duties, I am sure we have not seen the end you. OSBot will always be here for you to thank you for your contributions and we hope to see you around for a long time in the future.
May your new adventures be loving and fruitful, we will miss you. The community and we are greatful for everything you mean and meant for OSBot. Please stay around lurking and trolling on the forums, that's something you can't take away from us! I could ramble on, but really, it boils down to that we love you and feel happiness and sadness at the same time to see you leave.
*sheds a tear of joy*
Be safe Alek,
We will always be here for you. Moving forward.
It is going to a tough job to replace Alek, if not impossible. However life goes on and so does OSBot continue to exist. For that we have had a week of internal conversations to discuss how to handle the situation and make sure that OSBot can continue forward.
We have compiled a list of actions we will undertake, to assure the community that the future of OSBot is secured and that we'll take our responsibility as a team to replace Alek as good as we can: 1.) New developer.
We are in talks with several bot developers and will have a couple of interviews to hire a new bot developer. It is important for us that this person is close to the community or if not, has the ability to build a relationship with the community. Once we have found a developer who we deem to be a match, we will come forward with an announcement.
2.) Bugtracker.
MGI and I will take one day of our busy schedules to work on bug fixes and updates. This shall usually be Thursday, as this is also the day that RuneScape often updates their client. For this we will open a bug tracker, which will be read only for the community, but it should give the community and us guidance on what bugs currently exist and are being worked on. Progress will be shared through this bugtracker and we will take reported bugs from the forums to be displayed on the tracker.
We hope that with the addition of a new developer, we can optimize the translation of bugs to an understandable bug report format that contains specific instructions on how bugs can be replicated. Our aim is to get all existing bugs as soon as possible. Web Walker, Mirror, Trade API and new features regarding recent RuneScape updates are the main focus, along with stabilizing the updater the break less often (some of the identifiers are 5 years old, it's crazy they didn't break before). Any questions regarding Alek's leave or any responsibilities Alek had in his domain can be forwarded to me through PM for the time being. Once we have a new developer on board, responsibilities will flow back at a sustainable pace towards the new developer where we see fit.
I hope this has answered your concerns and informed you enough, if not, please drop me a DM.
Yours sincerely,
Maxi and the OSBot team