A sad day for us all.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
This is staggering.

He was a mentor, a rock, an example. He was the best of us. What members can't know is how he held fellow staffers to account, he pushed us always to strive to be our best. For ATS, the ideal. To protect it from the capricious folly of everything the internet can come up with. To be more. To be better. To be shrewd. To be rigorous. But most of all - to have heart, integrity and soul.

He is legendary.

My condolences to his family. Words really can't express my sadness for their tremendous loss.

And to Masqua, my gratitude and vow to do better for ATS.

WOW.. this was a powerful post IMO.

a reply to: Crakeur

oh no!!!.....nono....boo.

I'm very sad to hear that. He was a jewel, such a great support and help back when I first came here.
Mature, fascinating, level-headed, calm....he was a fantastic mentor.
He will be missed.
Thanks for sharing.

R.I.P. Brother.

My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and those who knew him well.

Masqua showed me the ropes early on here at ATS and he will not be forgotten.

Rest In Peace, brother.

a reply to: Crakeur

May he rest in peace.... ATS lights are a bit dimmer tonight... He made a difference here. R. I. P.

MS

a reply to: Crakeur

I'm only vaguely familiar, but have been checking out a lot of his material -and the art!! - a REAL artist! Rest in peace~ my condolences to all who know him.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: Crakeur

ATS lights are a bit dimmer tonight... He made a difference here.

MS

So true...

a reply to: Crakeur

Very sorry to hear this. The board could do with more people like Masqua.

Such a creative and compassionate soul. May memories of him become treasures.

a reply to: Crakeur


Oh man....another horrific loss. I respected him a lot, he was definitely a shining star of ATS.


I'm sorry Stephen...we're all a little worse off now.

I didn't interact too many times with Masqua while being on ATS, but in the few occasions that I did I viewed him as a reasonable, fair and decent moderator and member of this website. I wish his real life family and friends and other ATS members that were fond of him all the best during this difficult time.

a reply to: alphabetaone

Yes, we are all a little worse off then we were when we woke up this morning....

Good news is we have some of his most beautiful thoughts and ideas enshrined here at ATS forever.

He blessed us all with 13 years of his content and his invaluable HELP creating the ATS we all know and love..

This is awful news. 😔😔😔
I don't interact with my fellow ATSers as much as I should.
I mostly enjoy lurking. And I'm just as much of an introvert here, as I am in real life.
And honestly, I prefer that way.
However, when a fellow ATSer passes away, especially one as kind, fair, interesting, and talented as Masqua, it does make me take a good long look at myself and gets me to start thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'm a little bit to comfortable in my comfort zone.
I missed out getting to know a really cool ATSer here.
I seriously need to start participating more as an active member here, instead of just hanging way back.
RIP Masqua. Fly high.

a reply to: Mjab6910

You're golden Mjab6910, you're an ATSer just like Maqua was.

OMG!!

Masqa had cause to tell me off a few times and I always respected him.

I am very saddened by this news and hope his family are OK.

RIP Masqa. I will never forget you xxxx

My deepest condolences to his loved ones and family, including his ATS family.

What can I say about Masqua? Artist, mentor, prolific thinker and pillar of ATS. His avatars were legendary and something every member new and old recognized. Fair, balanced, measured and witty; Masqua always added value and substance to any discussion lucky enough to have him participating in.

Always the skeptic, Masqua personified the ATS motto of “Deny Ignorance” like few I have ever known. Not only did Masqua believe in those two simple words, he lived them. Always questioning and probing, he never took things at face value. Masqua showed all of us what it truly means to be a “conspiracy theorist” in the truest, purest sense.

Perhaps more important that providing us all with a template and blueprint for how we should view our world, he fostered community. Above all else, I will always remember that Masqua put the community of ATS first. No matter how deep of a divide two people had, Masqua could always find common ground and bring people together. I truly believe that one of his greatest skills was at healing and bringing people together.

In a world, more divided than ever, we were blessed to have him among us. Through my interactions with him over the years I grew, not only as an ATS member and person but as member of human race. Masqua taught me many things that I didn’t realize were “lessons” at the time. The mark of a true mentor, for sure.

Thank you Masqua for making not only ATS, but the world itself a better and brighter place. Though you may have left us for now, your legacy and this “home” you helped build will endure. You gave so much to ATS, and you can and should be proud of what you accomplished here…and in the lives you touched.

a reply to: Crakeur

He was one of the only mods that applauded me. Sad loss for ATS and all who were close to him.

originally posted by: Crakeur
It is with great sadness that I am posting to inform you all that one of our members, and moderators, Masqua, passed away. For those of you that didn't know him, he was a member of the site for over a decade and, for as long as I've known him, he was also a Super Moderator. He set the standard for moderating here. Level headed, always understanding of members' viewpoints and always even keeled when it came to dealing with site related issues.

Masqua was also an accomplished artist, which is how he and I bonded. While I am not an artist, I work with a lot of them and we spoke, from time to time, about his work and the art scene here in New York. You can see some of his work, as well as learn a bit about the man we knew as Masqua, here

Masqua will be missed by those of us who knew him and, for those of you that didn't, you missed out on knowing a great man.

The only mod i knew for the last 10 years plus that would actually pm you and didn't have a high class rate of banning people..[SNIPPED].

Condolences to all who loved and knew Masqua.
May he pick up a new paint brush and colour the sky's and landscape evermore.