I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill myself

One of the things that makes EVE such an interesting game is that the social stew is always at a constant boil. The latest spicy ingredient to be added to the mix is the expulsion of Ankhesentapemkah from the CSM for an alleged NDA violation.

For someone in the games business, as Ankh is, such an allegation has significant career consequences. So it's no surprise that everyone involved is saying as little as possible; nobody wants to get hot-dropped by lawyers. Unfortunately, the lack of details has not stopped the conspiracy-crafters on the forums from spinning theories both sublime and ridiculous, and the "this just proves the CSM is worthless"-subcategory is annoyingly popular.

One frustrating aspect of being a CSM (and not just in this particular instance) is that the NDA often prevents you from posting a direct reply to a player question, and then your lack of specificity is interpreted in the worst possible way by one of the fine specimens of Homo Trollus that have found such verdant hunting grounds on the forums.

I'm not complaining about this too much, it's an occupational hazard of the job, but it's something to keep in mind.

Occasionally, however, you can have some fun with it. In one forum thread, the question arose:

BTW, is the NDA agreement you signed at CSM, under NDA too?

Which allowed me to indulge in a little whimsy:

As CSMs, we can neither confirm nor deny that the NDA is under NDA, nor can we confirm or deny that above confirmation or denial either confirms or denies any policy of the CSM or CCP.

Further, we neither confirm nor deny any rumors about what happened in Iceland, nor do we confirm or deny that we actually had any meetings in Iceland. In fact, we're unwilling to confirm that Iceland even EXISTS. And as for this internet thing you're using, it might just be a figment of your own demented imagination.

We do confirm that we do listen to what players want, however bizarre these desires might be. We regret doing this, however, since some of you are even stranger than we are!

In more serious news, the coming week should see the release of the much-awaited CSM Summit minutes, and I'll have a thing or two to say about them, you can be sure.