After eight years doing Damage and Spin and donning the Online Asbestos Suit for Bungie, Community Guy and Keeper of the Bungie Way Matt Soell has decided to leave Bungie. Friday, April 25, 2003, was his last day. He wrote about his decision in the HBO forum:

Before the juicy conspiracy theories start, I'd like to state for the record that there's no intrigue or drama behind this decision. No political machinations, no long-simmering rivalries, no epic struggle between the forces of light and dark. My reasons for leaving are pretty mundane. It's just time for me to do something different.

The rest of the community team will be picking up my slack, and they're committed to doing cool stuff for you guys. With any luck, you won't even realize I'm gone.

Working at Bungie is probably the best thing that's happened to me. I've learned a lot and enjoyed myself immensely. I've had the honor of working with some of the most intelligent, creative, fun people on the planet.

Matt will be sorely missed, especially by those longtime members of the community, as well as the administrators of all the fansites he helped out over the years.

Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO who posted the news. There is also an item posted by Gawyn at Subnova.