As many of you know - and I have received a LOT of questions about it - Maximum_Joe, one of our most senior staffers, has been AWOL since this summer. Internet relations being what they are, we hadn't able to contact him to confirm if he was okay or whether he was coming back or not. Of course, these things happen on a site that's been around since 1999 (originally) or 2005 (this incarnation) - people leave for various personal real-life reasons all the time, only to suddenly come back years later going "oh hey this place is still here".

Unfortunately, that isn't happening this time. I have just received word from Joe's brother that he has passed away, and that he wanted us to know.

According to him, it doesn't seem to be any foul play, nor was there any proof he did it himself. I don't have any further details.

Joe has been a member of this site for almost a decade, and while he was not the oldest active staff member, he was arguably the most senior in terms of activity and contributions. The countless hours he has devoted to everything from tagging to gallery cleanup to forum moderation to wiki editing, as well as generally managing and directing a lot of the minute details about those things, have been much appreciated by those who have been paying attention.

It is a big hole to fill, and he will be sorely missed, both personally as a friend, and as a staff member for this site.