A Letter to CJ, from Santae Staff
First and foremost, I'd like to establish this as an attempt made in good faith to advocate for the better treatment of all current and future members of the Santae staff and community. I have nothing to gain from this personally--everything that follows is shared only in the interest of transparency, and the choice to do so now is my own.
At the time of the recent walkout on March 4th, 2025, CJ was presented with a letter. This letter was drafted with the assistance of multiple established staff members for two reasons: to address recurring behaviors that were unanimously considered inappropriate and unprofessional, and to provide an exhaustive list of adjustments and changes required to better the team going forward. The intent was always to bring light to these issues, and encourage growth from within by supporting any efforts made to resolve them.
Instead, the few changes that were implemented while I was still an Admin were inconsistent and poorly executed; CJ's behavior remains unchanged, and he has stated outright that he is unwilling to entertain any further negotiations. Without anyone present to hold him accountable, it's likely that this will get brushed aside as unnecessary drama, and the cycle will continue.
Unfortunately, as of writing this, the majority of those aware of the letter are no longer staff. Given CJ's active resistance and overall failure to honor promises made to his own team, making its contents public feels like the most effective way for me to ensure that everyone's effort hasn't been in vain.
As always, I wish Santae and its community all the best.
-- Lacilia
( Full transcript below the cut )
Following up on this to say thank you for the support everyone, genuinely!! I'm sure I can speak for everyone when I say it means a lot, and it's nice to see that the message behind the letter seems to be getting across as intended.
I also do want to take a minute to publicly acknowledge and respond to the statement made by @santaeofficial in a reply to the original post:
In The spirit of transparency we’d like to share that we responded to the staff letter on March 4, 2025. You can find it at this link. Every point brought forward by the team has been carefully reviewed, acknowledged, and addressed with direct action. We remain committed to fostering a supportive, collaborative, and values-driven work environment for everyone involved. We’re grateful to our team for speaking up and helping us continue to grow together; stronger, kinder, and more united than ever. ~The Santae Team
(First, a brief clarification for anyone who may be concerned: I am not legally bound or beholden to any official NDA or confidentiality contract that would disallow or otherwise restrict anything I've said here... which is really just a way for me to say that no, I will not be taking the letter down.)
Disregarding the fact that a letter drafted over the course of several days was returned with one of equal length in roughly an hour, I will acknowledge that yes, CJ did provide a response--and if all we had been after was words on a page, that would have been great!! But promises aren't enough to resolve the kinds of long-standing issues our letter was made to address, and words without substance are meaningless. Even early on, the argument was made by certain individuals that CJ wasn't being treated fairly by those involved in the strike/walkout. From there, it didn't take long before the lack of genuine intent behind them became evident.
As far as the newly created TXM position is concerned (though I can obviously only speak on my own experience in the role, not what may have come after) I can say with some certainty that the part I was meant to play was performative at best. My ability to perform the tasks required was undermined by immediate accusations of bias-- rather than invite any genuine attempts at negotiation or even a fair, rational discussion, trying to communicate the concerns raised by those behind the letter led to my judgement being discredited from the start. Anything brought up that wasn't already strictly outlined in the letter was regarded as 'demands being changed' and discouraged, or even shut down altogether. Pointing out direct contradictions, a lack of communication, and indisputable failures to uphold his word wasn't just dismissed as another display of bias, but later referred to in DMs as a perceived display of resentment towards him, specifically.
Those DMs, as well as every message I've received from CJ throughout the eight months we've known each other, have since been deleted in their entirety. Whether that was a choice made out of spite or some misplaced fear that I might use something he said against him, I honestly couldn't say--given that I was never provided a formal termination notice before my second removal from the staff team, I'm unfortunately more inclined to believe the former--but whatever the case may be, these aren't the types of decisions that inspire confidence in one's investment to honor transparency.
I do want to reiterate that I have no grievance with Santae as a whole--I genuinely did enjoy my time as an Admin, and I don't want to discourage anyone from playing if they still enjoy the game!! This is just the only means I have to get the point across that, in order for the site to succeed, something needs to change. 'Reviewed, acknowledged, and addressed' is only the beginning, and the fact it's being publicly referred to as if it's already been taken care of speaks volumes to how little effort has truly been put into making things right.
Once again, I sincerely wish Santae and its community the best.
-- Lacilia
